


According To You

by inhystereks



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Artist Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Eventual Sex, F/M, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Derek, Oblivious Stiles, She's a bitch and we don't like her, Slow Burn, Sterek Glompfest, Warning: Kate Argent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 19:24:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14171799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inhystereks/pseuds/inhystereks
Summary: Derek met Kate at the end of the school year.What followed was a summer that he believed he would always think of as the most glorious of his life.But it doesn't take long before the colors start to dim in the perfect picture he's painted. And when he meets Stiles and is intensely drawn to the other boy, things only get more complicated.Derek has a difficult choice to make. Will he find the courage to do what makes him happy?





	According To You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [teaandsunflowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaandsunflowers/gifts).



> This was written for Sterek Glompfest for the prompt: Sterek. Slow burn UST. Slowly building trust. Misscomunication, preferably with jealousy. FLUFFY ending. Would be nice to have some smutt where its all about THE FEELZ (possesive feels are awesome!) sorry if its vague i dont care about the setting, just the sweet slow turture of pining till the schmoopy end!  
> I am... late. But I couldn't post this without being sure it was the best version. I hope you like it!

He met her at the end of the school year.

What followed was a summer that he initially believed he would always think of as the most glorious of his life. 

It was all the more lovely for how unexpected it was. Kate Argent wasn’t exactly popular. Not in the way all the connotations of the word might imply. But people knew her. She was stunning with a subtle edge of danger to her that made her all the more intriguing. Derek had caught himself staring at her while she laughed before. He didn’t have a crush on her exactly, but the energy she exuded drew his attention. More often than he even realized.

Kate noticed his scrutiny precisely because it lacked the lust and puppy love most boys looked at her with. Derek Hale looked at her with curiosity. Like he wanted to know her. Very few people were worth knowing, in Kate’s opinion, and even fewer were worth allowing to know her. However, she had been looking for a new toy to play with, and Derek was as good as any for that. Better, in some senses, because he came with a checkbook attached thanks to his rich parents. All she had to do was make herself available to him. 

Derek certainly noticed that he was seeing Kate more often. She was suddenly everywhere he was. At the library while he was studying. At the park when he was hanging out with Erica, Isaac, and Boyd. Near his locker in between classes. Later, he would see how strange that was, but right then he was captivated by the shy smiles she kept sending his way any time they made eye contact. 

When she actually approached him, he almost couldn’t speak for sheer exhilaration.

“Hi, Derek,” Kate drawled. She leaned a hip against his table. One arm was wrapped just under her chest, drawing his attention to her breasts for a moment. Her other hand twirled her long hair around her fingers.

“You know my name?” he asked, looking up at her in wonder. He spoke quietly. They were in the school library after all.

“Sure,” she giggled. “We do have history together, don’t we?”

They did have history together, but he never said anything in that class. Derek didn’t really say anything in any of his classes. “Uh, yeah,” he stammered, “Yeah, we do.” 

Kate leaned forward, and Derek was enthralled by the green of her eyes.

“Do you know my name?” she asked. She looked hopeful. He was so happy he didn’t have to disappoint her.

“Kate Argent,” Derek said without hesitation. She smiled brightly at him, and he felt a rush of pride and pleasure. 

“It’s nice to officially meet you, Derek,” Kate said, holding out a slender hand. 

“It’s nice to officially meet you, too, Kate,” Derek said, grasping her hand and shaking it.

-

Derek spent the summer playing an intoxicating game of ‘Catch Me If You Can.’ 

Kate Argent was a mystery he was quickly realizing he might not have the capacity to solve. She flirted with him when they were together, saucy words and fleeting touches. Then she wouldn’t text him back for days. She would cancel plans they’d made together at the drop of a hat, then ask to meet up with no warning. She insisted he meet her father and brother, but refused to meet his family. _That_ he’d demanded an answer for. His family was important to him.

“I just want to make sure that this thing we have is real. That it’s for sure,” Kate said. It was one of the rare moments where she seemed vulnerable, where it seemed like Derek might have even half as much of an effect on her as she had on him, and he ate it up with a spoon.

“It’s real,” he said emphatically, “But I can wait until you’re sure of it.”

She had given him that smile he was helpless in the face of. He was so relieved that he’d said the right thing.

Derek knew Kate didn’t want to meet his family, but he begged her to meet his friends. They were the ones besides his family that he trusted the most. It took him a while to convince her to do it. She only agreed when he assured her to her satisfaction that he wouldn’t break up with her, no matter what they thought after she’d officially met them in person. Which took until right before classes started again.

For the past three years, Derek and his friends had prepared for the end of summer days by going back to school shopping together. Looking for both class supplies and new clothes, they usually had an absolute blast together. This year, Derek still had a good time, but when he met up with the others after dropping Kate off at home, they clearly had a different opinion.

“I don’t like her,” Erica said bluntly.

“Erica,” Isaac hissed, while Boyd gave her a disapproving look.

“What? I don’t like her. I get a vibe from her, and it’s not a good one.” She looked directly into Derek’s eyes. “You’re free to make your own decisions, and you’re free to date whoever you want. It’s your life. I’m just telling you my opinion. I won’t be offended if you ignore me.”

Derek’s eyebrows arched in a way that left little doubt as to the skepticism he felt in reaction to that statement. 

“Okay, I might be a little offended, but seriously. It’s your life,” Erica said.

Derek looked at his other friends, but Boyd and Isaac both just shrugged.

“Does that mean you don’t have an opinion or you don’t want to say your opinion?” Derek asked.

Boyd and Isaac looked at each other, then back at Derek, and shrugged again.

“Right,” he muttered to himself.

Normally, he wouldn’t think of even talking to someone his closest friends opposed so strongly. And they didn’t like Kate. Boyd and Isaac’s reluctance to actually say anything out loud hadn’t fooled him about that in the slightest. But like they’d said, it was his life. And Kate was…

She was amazing. She was beautiful and vivacious and fascinating. Her laugh was a husky rasp that made him shiver. Her hair was a lucious golden brown that made him think of lions. She looked at him like that sometimes too. Like he was prey and she would hunt him down. No one had ever looked at him like that before. Maybe it should have worried him or scared him, but _no one had ever looked at him like that before_. Like he was worth more than a passing glance. Like he meant more than minimal effort.

Derek had never been anyone’s complete focus before, and to think that he could be Kate’s, that he could be the reason that gorgeous smile lit up her face. He wanted that.

So he did what Erica had given him permission to do and ignored her. He chased Kate around, reveled in the times she allowed herself to be caught, and barely worked up the courage to finally ask her to be his girlfriend.

“Finally, Derek, I’ve been waiting forever,” she grinned.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Everything was right with the world.

-

Sitting in her car, Allison stared at her new school with something that might have been close to apprehension.

She was used to being the new kid. Her mom had moved them around a lot ever since her dad died. But she’d finally, _finally_ , extracted a promise from her mother that they wouldn’t be moving again until she graduated from high school. She would finally have the time to make friends and actually keep them instead of making casual acquaintances that she immediately lost touch with as soon as they packed up and were off again. 

Allison would have preferred a city to a small town, but her mom thought it would be better to settle down near actual family. So there they were in Beacon Hills. Despite the fact that they had visited their family pretty often, Allison had still taken the time to drive around and familiarize herself with the layout of the town. She recognized a few people that she’d seen around during her wanderings, which she supposed only made sense. Beacon Hills wasn’t _that_ small, but neither was it a booming metropolis.

She doubted she would need anyone’s help to figure out where her classes were, but she supposed she would feel comfortable enough to ask one of the more familiar faces. Her mom had suggested that Allison have her cousin Kate show her around. Allison loved Kate to bits. She was honestly more like a sister than a cousin. However, just because she loved her cousin, didn’t mean she was oblivious to her faults. Kate was a lot of fun, and she was nice to Allison, but she wasn’t nice to everybody. Allison didn’t want people’s associations with Kate to color their perception of her. That would make it way more difficult to get off on the right foot. Since she wouldn’t be leaving this particular school without a diploma, it was necessary that she avoid being labeled before she had a chance to decide how to establish herself. ‘Kate’s cousin’ painted her with a brush she wasn’t sure she liked the color of. 

Allison took a deep breath as she stared up at the school and finally steeled herself to exit her car. She’d done this many times before, and she wasn’t the type of person to allow herself to be bullied. At most, she would simply be anonymous in this new school, which wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.

She was certain everything would be fine until she got to her first class and couldn’t find her lucky pencil. Allison had carried that pencil around on almost every first day of school she’d had since her mother had started moving them around all the time. The two times she’d forgotten it or it had been missing, she’d had the worst first days and never really found her footing in that school. 

“Damn it,” she muttered, pawing through her pencil bag a second time.

“Something wrong?”

Allison looked up. The boy in front of her had turned around and was now looking at her in concern. She almost couldn’t speak. He was so cute.

His lightly curled brown hair flopped down in front of warm brown eyes. His jaw was crooked in a way that made him look hapless and adorable. She could feel herself blushing and hurried to speak before she embarrassed herself by just staring without saying anything.

“Um I just… It’s my first day and it looks like I don’t have anything to write with.”

“Oh!” He turned around and turned back in a moment, holding out a pen to her.

“Thanks, but what about you?”

“Stiles always has extra pencils. I’ll borrow from him,” he said gesturing to the side.

Allison looked over and saw a pale boy with a buzzcut watching them. His eyes flicked between them and he smirked. She felt her cheeks burning and looked back at the boy in front of her.

“Thanks,” she said again.

“It’s no problem,” he grinned. “I’m Scott.”

“Allison,” she responded with a smile.

He blinked at her, eyes wide. “Allison,” he repeated quietly. “I hope you have an awesome first day, Allison.”

She looked down, tapping the pen on the blank first page of her notebook. “Thanks.” 

Christ, what was wrong with her? Was she suddenly incapable of making fully formed sentences? 

Scott turned back around, and Allison went to zip up her pencil case. Tilting it toward her, she saw her lucky pencil. She barely resisted the urge to pick it up and kiss it.

After class, Scott turned to her again. He and Stiles had been passing notes the whole time. She had no idea how they hadn’t been caught considering they’d practically been tossing them at each other’s faces. 

“Um, so you said you’re new. I - we, could walk you to your next class if you’d like?”

Allison smiled at him. “Sure, that’d be great.”

Scott grinned widely at her. The awed look he gave her when she smiled back had a faint dusting of pink staining her cheeks.

Lucky pencil, indeed.

-

Their first official date was at a coffee shop.

“Can I just have a grande hazelnut latte?” Derek asked. 

“Sure,” the cashier said. “Anything else?”

He was about to respond no, there wasn’t anything else, when Kate reappeared at his side. She set down a yogurt. “This. Also, a warm blueberry muffin and a quad venti skinny vanilla latte with whipped cream and extra caramel drizzle. I’ll go get us a table,” she said to Derek before walking off. 

He blinked at her back, mouth still formed around the unspoken ‘no.’ He looked at the cashier, who was giving him a sympathetic look.

“Do you want a spoon for that yogurt?” she asked. 

“Yeah, thanks.” He handed over the total, thankful he had enough money on him. He didn’t usually carry cash, and he’d forgotten his debit card at home since he’d never put it back in his wallet after the last time he’d bought something online. 

Derek carried their drinks over to the table she’d found and spent the next hour and a half trying to make her smile. The few times he succeeded only encouraged him to try harder for the reward of that beautiful grin.

After that, Kate seemed to take it for granted that he would always pay when they went out. Derek honestly didn’t mind, because he could always afford it and he liked making Kate happy. He hardly thought about it, and wouldn’t have thought about it, if he’d always had enough money. Except one day he didn’t.

“Excuse me?” Kate asked, giving him a narrow-eyed look that he’d never seen on her face before.

Derek paused, looking at her with wide eyes. He hadn’t realized that this was something she would be upset about. He’d made her irritated with him before, but he’d never come as close to making her truly angry as he suspected he was right now.

“I don’t… have any money. I already spent all of my allowance yesterday and Tuesday when I bought you lunch and those sunglasses that you wanted,” Derek said softly.

“That couldn’t have been more than $25,” Kate said glaring at him.

Derek blinked at her. “Well, yeah. I only get $25 a week.”

“Are you serious?” Kate snapped, “Isn’t your family rich? And your parents give you basically nothing for an allowance?”

Derek frowned, flustered, uncertain whether to be embarrassed that Kate thought his family was so well off or offended by the waspish tone she used when speaking of his parents.

“I don’t know if we’re rich,” Derek muttered, not used to his girlfriend being so aggressive with him, “My parents do have good jobs.”

“Oh, come on, Derek, you live in a mansion out in the preserve. Your family has to be rich to have built it. Not to mention your sister is always wearing all those cute designer clothes.”

“Laura’s clothes aren’t designer. She likes to bargain shop. Her favorite pair of boots only cost $3,” Derek replied, blinking at Kate. He was confused about why this was such a problem. Kate’s family was also pretty well off from what he understood. She could buy what she wanted herself. Unless she didn’t get an allowance? But it wasn’t like Derek wouldn’t buy what she wanted for her if he could. He just honestly didn’t have the money.

Kate seemed to realize this because she calmed all of a sudden. She looked at him for a few moments, and if Derek didn’t know better, he would have said she looked suspicious of him.

“So your parents really only give you $25 a week. Nothing else?” she asked.

“No,” Derek said. “They say if we want something expensive we can learn to save or wait until our birthdays and Christmas.”

“Right,” she said slowly. It almost sounded like she was angry, but when Derek tried to get a better look at her face, she turned to him with a bright smile. “It’s fine. I guess I’ll come back for this some other time.”

Derek smiled back, relieved that this misunderstanding hadn’t turned into an actual fight. Though, he wasn’t really sure why Kate had gotten a little mad in the first place. Either way, he shouldn’t have expected Kate to completely lose her temper simply because he couldn’t buy her something. She wouldn’t be so unreasonable.

A few dates after that, they went to a different coffee shop than the one they usually did, one closer to the public library. Kate had said something about the lacrosse team and their significant others going there after practice, so they were trying to avoid the huge crowd that would be.

“Hey, look,” Kate said, pointing to the sign in the window.

Apparently, the shop was hiring. Derek nodded in acknowledgement, Kate raised her eyebrows at him.

“You should apply,” she said.

“I should?” Derek asked quizzically.

“Yeah, you should. Work means money,” Kate said.

“I have an allowance.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “Yeah, just $25 a week,” she huffed.

Derek gave her a hurt look. “I’ve never needed more than that before,” he mumbled.

“You were single before,” Kate sighed. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad, Derek. I just… Wouldn’t it be nice if we could go on more dates together? Spend more time together? I really like doing things with you, not just sitting around all the time.”

It was on the tip of Derek’s tongue to ask why she couldn’t pay for things herself, but he didn’t want to offend her or make her angry. Instead, he said, “My parents are against us getting jobs while we’re still in high school. They say school is our full-time job.” 

Kate shrugged and looked away from him. “I’m just saying I’d like to be taken out more often. I didn’t think it was a lot to ask,” she said quietly.

Derek immediately felt guilty. Of course, it wasn’t too much. Kate deserved to be treated like the special person she was. “If you really think I should, then I will, but I don’t know if my parents will actually let me get a job.”

Kate blinked at him, seeming to take in his words, then she grinned. “That’s fine. I’m just happy you’re willing to try for me.”

“I’d do anything for you,” Derek said immediately.

Kate smiled more widely, then kissed him until he forgot his own name.

-

Stiles had seen the sparks flying between his best friend and Allison as soon as they looked into each other’s eyes for the first time. Of course, he’d immediately been rooting for Scott. This girl was new, obviously. She had no idea about their reputation as losers, and she’d blushed as soon as Scott talked to her, so Stiles thought he could safely assume that she wasn’t stuck up or otherwise used to looking down on people.

They’d shown her around that morning, but when they’d gone to her class to meet her and take her to the cafeteria, they found her arm in arm with none other than Lydia Martin.

Allison had grinned when she saw them and tried to pull Lydia in their direction, but Lydia had glanced at them and refused to let herself be pulled.

“No, Allison. We can talk about why that’s a bad idea at lunch. You’ll be sitting at my table, of course,” Lydia said. 

Allison turned to blink at her, confusion clear in her expression. Lydia used the moment to tug Allison in the other direction. Allison looked back, but Lydia grabbed her attention by saying, “I see my boyfriend over there. Let me introduce you.”

Stiles looked over at Scott only to see him despondent. 

“If she’s friends with Lydia now, she’ll never look at me again,” he said.

“Oh, come on, Scott. Don’t give up hope! She clearly likes you. And I don’t think she’s the type to stop talking to us just because Lydia says we’re not popular enough,” Stiles said.

“Dude, you know what Lydia does to people. Even you,” Scott replied.

Stiles sighed dreamily. “She does have a certain way of manipulating everyone into doing her bidding, doesn’t she? It’s so cute.”

“You’re literally delusional. I don’t get how you can like her so much when you know she’s kind of evil,” Scott said shaking her head.

“Hey, she’s only like 60% evil,” Stiles said like that made it okay.

Scott gave him a skeptical look.

“Okay, more like 85% evil. But she’s gorgeous and smarter than basically anyone else in this school,” Stiles said.

“And yet she’s still going out with Jackson,” Scott said.

“Okay, well even the smartest people don’t always make the best decisions,” Stiles admitted. “And anyway, we were talking about you and Allison.”

“There isn’t gonna be a me and Allison. Even if she did like me, Lydia’s got her now,” Scott sighed sadly. 

“Dude, seriously, don’t give up hope. You like her, don’t you? You think she’s cute and you want to get to know her better?”

“Stiles, you know I do,” Scott said.

“Then do it! Don’t run away just because of Lydia! And if she won’t talk to you just because of that, then you shouldn't be interested in her anyway. You’re awesome, dude. Just talk to her.”

“You really think I should?”

“Definitely,” Stiles said emphatically. “She likes you. You know I can read people.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay. I’ll talk to her. Thanks, man,” he grinned at Stiles.

“Anything for my best bro,” Stiles replied. 

-

Derek walked into his mother’s office more than a little nervous. He’d asked to talk to her and his dad after dinner that night. She’d seemed just slightly concerned and told him to come to the office after he and his siblings had finished clearing the table and washing the dishes.

He breathed a little more easily when he saw his parents seated comfortably on the couch instead of situated at his mother’s desk. If they were relaxed, maybe they wouldn’t fight so hard with him about what he wanted to talk about.

Derek sat, and his mother smiled warmly at him.

“What did you want to talk about, little one?” 

Derek took a deep breath and began. 

“I went by the coffee shop near the library the other day, and I saw they had a hiring sign in the window. I know you guys don’t like the idea of us having jobs while we’re still in high school, but I think it would be good for me. I’m not in any extracurricular activities right now, and I really believe I would be able to keep up with my homework and classes. You guys give me an allowance, and I’m usually responsible enough with it that I can buy the things I want without having to ask for more, but I would really like to use my own money and learn how to budget and save with a larger amount. Not that I don’t appreciate the allowance I get, but earning it myself outside of doing chores is different. It would help me learn time management, too. Plus, it’s experience that I can put on my resume. I guess, all I’m asking is will you please consider allowing me to apply for a job at the coffee shop?”

He’d lost the thread a bit at the end there, but his mom and dad were smiling at him so he figured it couldn’t have been too bad. His parents did that silent communication thing they’d perfected, and then his dad said, “How about you head up to your room, kiddo? We’ll talk about it and tell you our decision.”

Derek resisted the urge to babble some more about why it was a good idea for him to get a job. If his parents knew he was only doing it for his girlfriend, they would say no. Instead, as earnestly as he could, he said, “Thanks for listening to me and considering it. Good night.”

He went upstairs, only to find Peter in his room, spinning in his desk chair.

“You’ve already got the job. What are you going to say if they tell you they don’t think it’s a good idea?”

Derek didn’t ask how Peter knew he’d already applied and gotten hired. Nor did he ask how Peter knew his parents hadn’t said yes or no, but that they’d think about it. There was no point. Peter knew everything and he rarely, if ever, explained how he knew even a fraction of it.

“Remind them that they taught us to always follow through on our commitments,” Derek replied.

Peter looked at him, eyebrows raised. A devious smirk slowly curled his mouth. “Well done, nephew. There may be hope for you yet,” he said condescendingly.

Derek rolled his eyes and collapsed on his bed. Peter stood and left without another word. 

Luckily, he didn’t have to use his parents’ own words against them. They agreed to let him have the job.

-

Kate could feel the music’s bass vibrating in her chest. 

She pulled her tousled hair over one shoulder, standing with a hip cocked in the way she knew displayed her toned body to showcase her best features. Her gaze scanned over the crowd, noting the drunken idiots making decisions they would regret in the morning dispassionately. She was bored.

It was a feeling she was becoming far too familiar with lately. The point of getting a new toy was to be entertained, but it wasn’t anywhere near as difficult to get her claws into Derek as she’d thought it would be. She’d taken into account that he didn’t really talk to anyone besides his friends and his sisters. Assuming it was because he was shy instead of stuck up (look at who his friends were after all), she’d thought it might take a while for him to warm up to her. But he was utterly enthralled in the time it took for her to say hello. The pathetic little thing was desperate for any scrap of attention she was willing to give him.

Though, in the end, that had worked in her favor more than she might have expected. She had been right to make sure he was so far gone on her before allowing him to introduce her to his friends. They didn’t like her, and if it had been the beginning when she was still manipulating him into chasing her around, they might have succeeded in convincing him to give up. But he was addicted to her by then, so he just ignored them. 

Of course, she’d been angry when she realized her golden goose didn’t have nearly as many golden eggs as she’d thought. But that situation was also easily remedied. Derek was working himself to the bone at a job that paid for almost everything she wanted, and since he’d promised his parents he wouldn’t let things slip at school or at home, she barely even had to see the little nerd that was so besotted with her.

Now her only problem was that she hadn’t good sex in way too long. Derek had his own charm in some ways, but he was more puppy than wolf, and there was no way he could give her a good rough fucking the way she liked it. Which was why she was a town over at this party. But so far it hadn’t seemed like anyone worthy of her attention was around.

“You seem to be looking for something in particular,” a deep voice drawled.

The gravel tones were wrapped in a faint accent that sent a shiver up her spine. She turned slowly and what she saw had a smirk spreading across her face. “You seem to think you might be what I’m looking for.”

He quirked a brow. “Am I?”

She tilted her head and looked at him up and down. She looked directly into his eyes and quirked a challenging brow back. “Are you?”

His grin seemed more like a baring of teeth, and the danger she could feel pouring off him had her insides quivering in a way they never had before.

“Deucalion.”

“Katherine.”

-

Talia stopped in the hallway, less surprised than she felt she should have been when she saw the light underneath Derek’s bedroom door. She knocked softly, and when she didn’t hear any response, she slowly opened the door. Derek was at his desk, slumped over what was surely his homework, fast asleep.

This was an increasingly common sight, and Talia didn’t like it. She’d been reluctant to let Derek get a job in the first place. They didn’t give him much allowance, but he’d never complained or seemed worried about it before. Out of all of her children, he was the most fiscally responsible. Laura and Cora knew how to save when they wanted something that required it, but Derek seemed content most of the time with what he had. However, he’d made that big speech and, after a discussion, she and her husband had capitulated. 

Now, she wasn’t so sure it had been a good idea. It was a mark of Derek’s responsibility that he was trying his best to not neglect his studies, but that was becoming increasingly harder the more hours he worked. Talia had stopped by the coffee shop he worked at and his manager had nothing but wonderful things to say about what a hard worker Derek was, how quickly he picked things up, how he took initiative when it came to keeping the store running smoothly. Talia was gratified to hear such good things about her son, of course, but still expressed surprise that the manager had so quickly given Derek more and more shifts.

“Well, usually I wouldn’t give so much work to a kid in school, but like I said, he’s really hardworking and he kept begging for more shifts,” Ciani, the manager, had said giving Talia a surprised and somewhat confused look.

“He asked for more shifts,” Talia repeated.

“Yeah,” Ciani nodded, “Wouldn’t leave me alone about it. His grades aren’t slipping are they? If that’s the case, I’ll cut his shifts immediately. I don’t want him to stop doing well in school.”

“No, his grades are fine. It’s just… I think it’s becoming more difficult for him to keep them that way,” Talia said. Seeing that Ciani looked torn about how to react to that, she added, “Don’t worry. I’m glad he’s such a big help to you. I’ll talk to him and see if he’s struggling as much as I think or if I’m just being an overprotective mama.”

Ciani gave her a relieved smile. “Let me know. I’ll help any way I can.”

Talia glanced around her son’s room. It was noticeably more messy than it usually was. There were far more coffee cups scattered around than she was used to seeing. Derek would drink coffee, but he wasn’t a huge fan of the flavor and generally preferred tea. At first, she’d thought working at a coffee shop had inspired the change, but now she was thinking he’d been drinking more coffee to keep himself awake. She walked over to her son and shook him gently. 

“Derek, sweetheart, you need to go to bed,” she said quietly.

She finally roused him and he looked up at her through bleary eyes.

“Mom?”

Talia smoothed his hair back. “It’s me, my beautiful boy. You fell asleep on your homework. Come on, to bed you go.”

Derek nodded, then shook his head. “No, I can’t. I have to finish this reading.”

“Is it due tomorrow?” Talia asked.

“No, two days. But I want to finish it early so I have time to study for my math test next week,” he mumbled, still half-asleep.

Talia paused and looked at him carefully. He looked so tired. “Derek, I’m not sure you working so much is a good idea,” she said carefully.

Unfortunately, that was enough to spring Derek in to full consciousness.

“What? Mom, please. I’m staying on top of things. I’ve been doing my chores and my homework. You can’t say I haven’t been,” he said.

“I know, I know. Derek, I can see that you’re keeping track of all your responsibilities and working hard to make sure you meet them, but I think it’s starting to get to you, baby boy. You look exhausted.” She traced a finger underneath his eye, the beginnings of dark bruises causing concern to spark in her gaze.

Seeing that she was really worried, Derek grabbed her hand in his. “Mom, I am a little tired,” he admitted, “But that makes sense right? I’ve only been working for a month and a half. I’m sure I’ll get used to it. Please don’t worry about me.”

Talia snorted. “I’m your mom. I’ll always worry about you,” she said.

“Try not to worry too much,” Derek grinned.

“Okay,” Talia said. “Okay. But I’m keeping an eye on you, little one. If I notice you getting more tired instead of having more energy, we will be revisiting this conversation.” Seeing the look on his face, she added, “And it will be a discussion, Derek. I won’t just tell you to quit or anything like that. I know working is important to you.”

Though she would keep her suspicions about _why_ it was all of a sudden so important quiet for now.

“Thanks, Mom,” Derek said with another smile.

“You’re welcome. Now, since your reading isn’t due tomorrow, but you’re trying to make way for other homework, you can stay up for another half hour. But that’s it, Derek. After that, go to bed.”

“Okay, got it,” Derek said.

Talia snatched up the coffee cup on his desk. “And no more of this tonight, or you’ll never get to sleep.”

“Yes, Mom,” Derek said in a resigned tone.

Talia dropped a kiss on his head. “I love you, baby boy. 30 mins, then sleep tight.”

“Love you, too, Mom,” Derek said. He turned back to his desk and focused on his textbook.

Talia left, closing the door gently behind her. She stood for a moment and sighed quietly. She and her husband would definitely be discussing this.

-

Stiles was happy for Scott. He really was. 

His best friend had found the girl of his dreams. Allison was beautiful, smart, funny, and genuinely nice in a way that few people were. She really liked Scott and couldn’t care less about his social standing or how her social standing was affected by associating with him. Plus, she was tough enough to not let Lydia bully her into staying away from Scott when she really liked him. Standing up to Lydia was more than even Jackson could claim on most days. 

Scott was over the moon. Allison made him happy like nothing Stiles had ever seen before. Scott could hardly open his mouth without rhapsodizing about some new fact he’d found out about his amazing girlfriend. And Stiles appreciated the fact that Scott, who was considered a loser by basically the entire population of their high school, had taken a risk by putting the moves on the newest it girl. He had actually succeeded and got a girlfriend out of it. Stiles got that that was an incredible and momentous event in the course of their lives.

And it wasn’t that he was jealous. Stiles didn’t mind being single. He didn’t have a secret crush on Allison, or a secret crush on Scott for that matter. He wasn’t still pining after Lydia. Oh, he’d jump at the chance if she ever seemed interested in him in that way, but he was pretty sure that was never going to happen in a million years, and he was no longer holding out the kind of desperate hope that was more than a little emotionally damaging. 

So Stiles was genuinely happy for Scott, and he wasn’t jealous of him.

But he missed his best friend.

Scott had been by his side for almost his entire life. Scott had become part of his support system after his mom died, and that support system was pretty much Scott and his dad. The sheriff had been working long hours since Stiles’ mom got sick, trying to cover all the necessary bills. And he was still working long hours, trying to make sure they weren’t pulled under by outstanding debts. Honestly, up until now, Stiles saw Scott far more regularly than he saw his dad.

Stiles scoffed, curling himself into a ball in his bed as he stared blankly at the wall. It was agonizing to realize that without Scott, he basically had no one to interact with that actually wanted to be with him. He could talk to people at school, but there was no one around that actually wanted to listen. Stiles missed meeting up between classes. He missed having lunch together. He missed hanging out after class. He missed joking around on the bench at lacrosse practice. He missed movie nights and video game marathons and pizza eating contests and having his best friend.

Stiles knew Scott. He knew Scott didn’t even realize he was neglecting Stiles. He knew if Stiles mentioned it, Scott would probably give him a confused look and make a comment about how they hung out all the time. But knowing that Scott was totally oblivious didn’t really make him feel better about being abandoned. It actually made him feel worse. Like his presence was so nonessential that him not being a part of Scott’s life wasn’t even noticeable.

Scott was hanging out with the popular kids now. They might only accept him because Allison did, but Stiles was a little too far removed for him to be added on. Allison’s boyfriend was acceptable. Allison’s boyfriend’s best friend was not. So Stiles was the one left out when Lydia and Jackson made it clear he wasn’t welcome to group outings.

He wasn’t sure whether to push the issue or not. He didn’t want to come off sounding like a jealous asshole, nor did he want to beg for anyone’s attention even if it was Scott.

But he couldn’t help feeling lonely. All of a sudden, he had so much free time. He didn’t want to keep getting sucked into research spirals, because he tended to take way too much Adderall by accident when he did that. 

He could actually do things, but he didn’t like going places on his own. His anxiety made him feel like everyone was staring at him and judging him for not having any friends, for daring to try and pretend to be normal when he was nothing but a freak. If Stiles could convince Scott to make time to go with him somewhere, he wouldn’t even hesitate. His dad didn’t approve of him having a real job, but he’d started doing transcription work for spare cash his freshman year. It wasn’t hard and he could do it whenever he wanted. With the money he got from that, he could pay for them to do a lot of fun things. 

Instead, desperate for some kind of distraction, Stiles bought some professional art pencils.

He’d always sketched and drawn things ever since he was a kid. It was becoming more than just a hobby now that he could do it more often. Now that he needed some way to express himself that wasn’t talking to empty air or numbing his mind through endless articles about things he only had a vague interest in. 

Stiles didn’t realize it, but his talent for observing people transferred over into his art. He had a knack for drawing people in a way that conveyed their true selves. Whether they were weary, excited, depressed, ecstatic, furious, confused, content, amused, or apathetic, he could draw people so their emotions practically exploded off the page. 

Stiles used to spend his free time switching between transcribing and drawing in the library. Being alone in his house made him feel like he was being constantly buffeted by echoes of silence. He hated it. The library was a place that was suitably quiet but usually filled with enough people that he didn’t feel too lonely. Unfortunately, he’d only been going there regularly for a few months before a group of middle schoolers had decided to make it their new hangout and he was constantly getting distracted by how obnoxious they were.

Who honestly thought a freaking library was the place to loudly goad each other into doing stupid things in said library? Stiles wished he didn’t know he’d been just as bad when he was their age, but he knew he’d probably been even worse. 

Rather than stay and deal with dumb kids and pissed off librarians, Stiles decided to hang out at the coffee shop a few streets over.

-

Derek looked at his phone and sighed. He had just enough time to text Erica back before his shift started. She’d been trying to plan a time for them all to hang out for a couple weeks now and he always had to give her the same response. That he was working. His mom hadn’t brought up him being overworked again, but that little crease between her brows that meant she was concerned was getting deeper as the days went by and he knew that if he didn’t get his shit together, she would try to talk to him about cutting back.

If Derek didn’t love his mom so much and know that she was honestly just concerned about his health, he would be more irritated. He was a little tired sure, but nothing was falling by the wayside. 

His phone dinged and he checked it to see a series of pissed off murder emojis from Erica.

Well, maybe his friends were falling by the wayside just a little bit. 

He wasn’t trying to ignore them, but it was difficult to work as much as he needed to and also keep up with all his chores and homework and spending as much time with Kate as he possibly could. 

Even though Kate didn’t work, she was just as busy as he was most of the time. She was always going places with her best friends Jennifer Blake and Julia Baccari. Despite having different last names, they were twins. Each girl had taken the last name of the parent they were closest to. Jennifer, their dad, and Julia, their mom. Kate and the twins were always hanging out with people or shopping.

Derek didn’t usually get free time to just relax anymore and even when he did, Kate usually already had plans. She hated canceling on her friends. She said girls that ditched their closest friends just because they had a boyfriend were the worst and the twins had been with her through everything for a long time. Derek understood, but he wished he actually got a chance to see the girlfriend he was working so hard for.

Most of the time, the extent of their interaction was her sending him a picture of something she wanted and him sending the money for it through Venmo. Derek wished he could see the happy smile that surely lit up her face whenever he could buy her what she needed. That was why he worked so hard. To make her happy even when he couldn’t see her often enough to take her out on dates. 

She always seemed so excited to see him when they did manage to meet up. She would kiss him until they were both breathless and say how much she missed him over and over. She always found him in between classes when they were at school. They didn’t eat lunch together, but that was more because Derek tried to use that time to hang out with Isaac, Erica, and Boyd, and he knew they didn’t like her. It was always tense whenever they all ate at the same lunch table. He’d asked Kate if it was okay to just hang out with their friends at lunch, and after giving him a sweet kiss she’d said that she understood he needed to hang out with his friends just like she needed to hang out with hers.

Derek nearly spaced out thinking about his amazing girlfriend, but Ciani walked into the back and he remembered that he needed to clock in. Walking out to the front, he gave Lucy, the shift leader, a questioning glance. She nodded with a wry smile. He was always put to work making drinks, because he wasn’t the best at dealing with customers on register. It was about an hour into his shift when someone leaned against the counter next to him. 

Derek looked up to see none other than Stiles Stilinski. The other boy wasn’t looking at him, focused on the book in his hands. 

“I love that book,” Derek blurted without thinking.

Stiles looked up at him and blinked. Then a smile lit up his expression. “It’s awesome, isn’t it?”

Derek nodded. “I think the concept is interesting. And the blurbs at the beginning of the chapters made me laugh.”

“Right? I think that’s one of the funniest parts of the whole book,” Stiles chuckled. 

“That and the running joke about names, especially Finn,” Derek smiled.

“Honestly, the name Satchel is genius,” Stiles said, “And the whole love triangle thing.”

“How every boy is the one that was right for her all along,” Derek said rolling his eyes.

“This is my second time reading it. I’ve been meaning to check out his other novels, but I haven’t gotten around to it,” Stiles said.

“Same. I’ve gotten kind of busy since I started working here.” He glanced at the name on the cup he’d just finished and couldn’t help but smirk in amusement. “Americano with caramel?”

Stiles nodded. He checked the name when he took the cup and snorted. “Stuart isn’t even close to my name. Like, at all.”

Derek shrugged with a wry grin.

“Nice talking to you, Derek,” Stiles said.

Derek blinked and then remembered he was wearing a name tag. “You too, Stiles.”

The other boy paused, and then offered a shy smile before grabbing his book and disappearing to the other side of the coffee shop.

A few minutes later, Lucy walked up to Derek. “Here. You forgot your name tag in the back,” she said, holding it out to him.

Derek stared at her, then the name tag in her hand. He grabbed it from her, wondering how Stiles had known his name if he hadn’t been wearing it after all.

An hour and a half later when he was on his 15 minute break, the store was packed. He looked around, trying to find a free seat so he could sit and eat his bagel. Derek knew he could just go to the back, but Ciani was having some kind of phone conference and he didn’t want the sound of him eating to bother her.

“Dude, over here,” a voice called.

Derek turned to see Stiles waving at him. The other teen kicked out the chair across from him. Derek went and sat down.

“Thanks,” he said.

“No problem,” Stiles said. 

Derek started ripping his bagel apart. He looked up to find Stiles watching him, head tilted. 

“What?” he asked self-consciously.

“Nothing,” Stiles smiled. He turned his attention to his computer and typed furiously for a few moments.

“What are you working on?” Derek ventured to ask.

Stiles glanced up. “I’m doing a transcription.”

Derek tilted his head, eyebrows furrowed. Stiles explained his side job, and that he did it because his dad didn’t want him getting an actual job.

“Yeah, my mom felt the same way. I basically had to beg her and my dad to let me work here,” Derek said.

“How long have you been working here? I don’t come here that often, but I’m pretty sure you weren’t here last time I was,” Stiles said.

“I’ve been working here almost two months,” Derek said. “Maybe you came, but I didn’t have a shift. I didn’t work every day in the beginning like I do now.” 

“Saving up for a car?” Stiles asked.

He had his Jeep, but as far as he knew, Derek had to share a car with Laura. It would make sense for him to be trying to get his own ride.

“Maybe I should be,” Derek laughed, “But I actually started working for my girlfriend.”

Stiles’ eyebrows went up at that. He knew Derek was dating Kate Argent, but he didn’t get what that had to do with Derek begging his parents to get a job. “Your girlfriend?”

“She likes to go out, and my allowance wasn’t really cutting it,” Derek admitted.

Stiles nodded. “Do you guys ever just hang out at one of your houses? Going out is nice, but a night in is fun too.”

“I wouldn’t mind just hanging out at my house, but I don’t think Kate would like that very much. She’s pretty social.”

“No offense, but I didn’t realize social was your thing,” Stiles said.

Derek shrugged, slightly offended, but more because Stiles was kind of right than anything else. “She likes it,” he said simply.

Stiles tilted his head and studied him again. “It’s really cool that you go that far to make her happy.”

Derek blushed and looked away. “She’s my girlfriend,” he shrugged, “It’s basically my job to make her happy.”

“Hm,” Stiles said.

Derek’s phone beeped. “Break’s over,” he sighed.

“Have fun making drinks,” Stiles smirked.

“Have fun typing transcriptions,” Derek smirked back.

When Derek had his half hour break, there were more empty seats around, but he noticed Stiles was still sitting at the same table. He hesitated for a moment, but Stiles had seemed to enjoy his company before and he didn’t think he would truly be bothering the other boy, so he walked over.

“Hey, mind if I sit here again?” Derek asked.

Stiles looked up at him with wide eyes, and Derek almost backtracked, but then he grinned and gestured to the opposite chair. “Sure, man, pop a squat.”

Derek snorted at the outdated turn of phrase. “Thanks.”

“Another break?” Stiles asked casually. He immediately bit his lip and stared down at what Derek was guessing was a sketchbook.

“Yep, a half hour this time instead of just 15 minutes.”

“Do you always get both?” Stiles asked curiously.

“Nah, you only get a half if you’re working for at least 6 hours,” Derek replied. He bit into his sandwich. “I see transcribing got boring.”

Stiles mouth quirked in a wry smile. “It’s usually pretty tedious. Though I have gotten to listen to some pretty interesting interviews. And also found out that there are some very niche things out there. Like a podcast specifically for dentists.”

Derek looked at him with arched brows, an impressively skeptical expression.

“No, seriously dude. There’s actually a podcast for dentists and they spent the whole time discussing the difference between dental insurance rates in America and Canada and making dumb teeth puns. It was hilarious and boring in a way few things can be at the same time.”

“I guess that’s the kind of thing you need to hear to really believe,” Derek said with a smile as he shook his head.

“Make it your new hobby,” Stiles said mischievously, “Listen to the weirdest podcasts you can find in your free time. Dental podcasts. Pasta lovers podcasts. Podcasts for water bottle enthusiasts. Podcasts for men determined to have sex with cacti.”

Derek caved and burst into laughter at the last one. “Please tell that’s not actually a podcast you had to transcribe for.”

Stiles grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “You’ll never know,” he sing-songed.

“I could just Google it,” Derek said.

“Okay, first of all, do you really want that in your internet search history? And b, do you really want to be subjected to what that search would pull up? And three, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself if you’re scarred for life, because I will deny I had anything to do with planting the question of whether such a thing exists in your head,” Stiles said. 

Derek laughed again. “I’m sure it would take me forever to type like that,” he said shaking his head.

“You get better at it as you go along,” Stiles shrugged. “I’m sure you couldn’t make drinks so quickly when you first started.”

“Yeah, no,” Derek huffed. “I got better at it really quickly because I hated being on register. Making drinks means I just have to hand it off without really talking to the customers.”

“Wow, I was super right about social not really being your thing,” Stiles said with a grin.

“I get the feeling you’re usually right about things,” Derek said. Stiles, for how distractible he was, was also well-known to be one of the smartest kids in school.

His lips quirked in that wry smile again. “You’d be surprised what I’m wrong about sometimes.”

Derek didn’t like that expression on his face, and tried to change the subject. “What’s the most boring thing you’ve ever had to transcribe?”

Immediately, Stiles was animated again. “Oh man, how I am I supposed to answer something like that? There’s so many interviews that literally almost put me in a coma.”

Derek honestly would have forgotten he needed to go back to work if he hadn’t set an alarm on his phone.

“It was nice talking to you, Stiles. You said you don’t come here often, but I hope we can hang out again next time you do,” Derek said. He surprised himself with how true it was. Stiles was probably the first person he’d ever met that he immediately felt comfortable around.

Stiles looked a bit stunned. “Um, yeah, I…” he stammered, “I was actually thinking about making this my new spot so, um, you’ll probably see me around.”

“Great, I gotta go, but I’ll see you around,” Derek waved before walking to the back of the store to get his apron back on.

He didn’t notice the way Stiles stared after him with shock still plastered all over his expression.

-

Scott leaned against Stiles’ locker with a sigh.

“Allison looks really pretty today doesn’t she?” he asked, staring dreamily into space. He missed the exasperated look his friend sent him.

“Allison looks really pretty every day,” Stiles said flatly.

“I know right,” Scott agreed with a goofy smile. “She’s so amazing. Sometimes I can’t even believe that we’re dating.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Did I tell you that she told Lydia I was the best boyfriend ever? I mean, of course I try to make her happy, but when she says stuff like that I actually know I’m doing something right. I hope I never make her upset. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if I ever made her cry.”

“Yep.”

“But she’s so strong and awesome, that’ll probably never happen. She’d probably shoot me with one of her arrows first. It’s so cool that she does archery. You should see her practice some time. She gets so focused and she bites one side of her lip. It’s so cute. You wouldn’t think someone could look cute and like a badass at the same time, but Allison does.”

“Sure.”

“Her mom doesn’t like it when I watch her practice though. She says I’m a distraction. Maybe if I learn more about archery, I can prove that I’m not making it harder for Allison. She’d probably appreciate it, right? It would show that I’m interested in the things that are important to her, and that her mom’s opinion matters to me too.”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe I can even get her a present that has to do with archery. Jackson gets Lydia presents all the time. Allison’s never said anything about wanting presents, but everyone likes presents right? Now I just have to decide what to get her. Should I get something that she can actually use for archery or like a bracelet or something that has to a bow and arrow. If I get her something that has to do with archery she can actually use it for practice, but if I get her jewelry she can wear it every day. Maybe I can get her both? Maybe I can get her one and then save the other for an anniversary or something?”

“Hm.”

“Maybe… Oh, there’s Allison. I’ll talk to you later, man.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and started toward his next class.

-

Stiles had already been planning on using the coffee shop as his new place to hang out, but the fact that Derek had actually said he wanted to see him there more often was… unexpected.

To say the least. 

But not unwelcome. Stiles was uncomfortably aware that he would latch on to anyone to get out of his own head for a while. Still, he was reluctant to pin all his hopes of friendship on Derek Hale. The other teen was, by his own admission, pretty busy. He also had his own friends, and a girlfriend he seemed super into. Stiles struggled to believe Derek would want to spend time with him outside of this little coffee shop, outside of his 15-minute and half hour breaks. It wasn’t too difficult to picture Derek saying he had something fun planned with his actual friends or his girlfriend, that he had other things to do besides hang out with a spaz like Stiles. 

Stiles didn’t want to hope.

But he couldn’t stop himself from hoping just a little bit, when Derek grinned as soon as he saw him.

“Hey, you came back,” Derek said.

“Yeah, looks like it,” Stiles said.

“Transcribing again today?” Derek asked.

“No, probably just sketching,” Stiles said.

“Oh, yeah, you were drawing last time you were here. Are you an artist?”

Stiles blinked. “I… no? I draw sometimes, but I don’t think I’m an artist.”

“Well if you draw, that kind of automatically makes you an artist doesn’t it?”

“Wow, I think a lot of actual artists would be highly offended to hear you say that,” Stiles laughed.

“A lot of actual artists are probably super pretentious,” Derek shrugged without concern.

Stiles let out another surprised laugh. It seemed Derek was a bit more sarcastic than he would have anticipated.

Most of Derek’s attention was on the drink he was working on, but he still glanced at Stiles with a small smile.

“I’m just kidding. I know artists work hard. I just don’t think you should sell yourself short because you don’t think your art counts or something,” Derek said.

“I think this is the first time ever someone has tried to tell me that I should be less modest,” Stiles said wryly.

Derek laughed a little and held out a cup. “Caramel americano?”

Stiles nodded and took it. “Thanks, Derek.”

“No problem, Stiles.”

Stiles found a good spot to set his things down, and glanced up to find Derek’s eyes on him. He blushed and looked away.

When Derek went on break, he immediately walked over to where Stiles was sitting with a smile.

Stiles couldn’t stop himself from hoping just a little bit more.

-

“You seem different,” Erica said.

Derek raised an eyebrow at her.

“I don’t know,” Erica said as if he’d asked a question. “More relaxed? Happier? Something.”

“Maybe he’s spending more time with Kate,” Isaac suggested, glancing at Derek.

Derek blinked at them. “Actually, Kate and I haven’t gotten the chance to hang out for a couple weeks,” he said with a frown. Now that he thought about it, he should probably take her out on a date or get her a present to apologize for being so busy. She was his girlfriend. He should make more of an effort to spend time with her. But he knew she got more annoyed with him for not buying the things she wanted than she did with him for not making plans to spend time together. 

He frowned even more deeply when he realized that it hadn’t really occurred to him to miss Kate very much even though he only saw her in between classes for a kiss and a chat before they went their own separate ways. He would definitely have to make more of an effort to take Kate out on dates.

Erica wanted to comment that maybe she was perceiving him as happier because he wasn’t seeing his parasite girlfriend all the time anymore, but Derek would get annoyed with her. Besides, she’d said when they started dating that even if she didn’t approve, it was Derek’s life. Which was true. She couldn’t do anything more than make comments, and she wouldn’t do that enough to make Derek genuinely upset with her. She’d be damned if she lost her friend to that malicious succubus.

Erica exchanged glances with Boyd and Isaac while Derek frowned down at his food, and knew they were thinking along the same lines as her. If Derek really was happier because he was spending less time with Kate, it would be better for him to come to that realization on his own.

-

Derek’s phone dinged, and he picked it up reluctantly. His breaks always seemed to go way too quickly when he was talking with Stiles. He’d mentioned as much once and Stiles had grinned and said, “Well, time does fly when you’re having fun.”

As he checked his phone, already halfway out of his seat, he realized it hadn’t been the alarm he set but a text notification.

“What’s wrong?” Stiles asked.

Derek looked up to see him watching him in concern and realized he must have made some kind of face. “Laura was supposed to pick me up, but she’s asking if I can get one of my coworkers to drive me.” He frowned down at his phone again.

“Oh. I can drive you,” Stiles said.

Derek’s head snapped back up to look at him. He watched as Stiles’ cheeks turned red and he started to stammer.

“I mean, I have a car, a Jeep, and I wouldn’t mind driving you to your house. If you don’t want to ask your coworkers. Of course, you can ask them, you don’t have to go with me just because I offered. You just looked like you didn’t want to ask them so I thought I’d give you another option. It’s fine, you don’t have to. But I can if you want.”

Derek blinked at him.

“Sure, thanks for the offer. That sounds great,” he said. He went to text Laura back that he was covered, but paused. “It’s not too far out of your way is it?”

“Not really,” Stiles shrugged. Which was kind of true. It was a bit out of his way, but he didn’t mind doing it for Derek, so it wasn’t a big deal. 

That night, in his car with Derek, he tried to be upbeat instead of anxious.

“How did you even find this car?” Derek asked, seeming particularly in awe of the age and color.

“Oh, Roscoe was my mom’s,” Stiles said.

“You named your car Roscoe?”Derek asked.

“Roscoe is a good name! A good and noble name. The name of many heroes of valor and persistence who would not fall no matter what wounds they suffered,” Stiles declared dramatically.

“You’d be lucky if this thing lasts until we graduate,” Derek said.

“It will. It’ll last even longer,” Stiles said. There was something in his tone that warned Derek off pushing the topic.

“If anyone has the magic touch to keep Roscoe going, I’m sure it’s you,” Derek said gently.

He saw Stiles looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and changed the subject, asking if he was allowed to change the radio station.

“Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole,” Stiles said. He immediately made to apologize for the reference, sure Derek wouldn’t understand, but the other boy spoke before he could.

“Jerk,” Derek said.

“Bitch,” Stiles said delightedly. “You watch Supernatural?”

“Not religiously,” Derek deadpanned. Stiles laughed, and they joked around the whole way to Derek’s house.

-

Stiles wasn’t exactly sure how it became normal for him to hang out at the coffee shop Derek Hale worked at every day.

Okay, he did know. He’d wanted to avoid the asshole kids at the library and he’d had an okay conversation with Derek the first day he’d gone to the coffee shop and Derek had said he hoped he would see Stiles again. Stiles had been surprised but certainly hadn’t minded. And Derek was…

Derek was pretty fucking beautiful.

The thing was, Stiles usually avoided thinking about things that made him uncomfortable. If he didn’t acknowledge it, he didn’t have to deal with it right? So he didn’t think about how his dad buried himself in work and his best friend jumped ship as soon as he found a pretty girl that would give him the time of day. And he didn’t think about the fact that he’d been so lonely he didn’t know what to do with himself. And he didn’t think about the fact that he’d been happier ever since he started hanging out with Derek. That seeing Derek smile meant he was incapable of containing his own stupid grin. That seeing Derek laugh made him want to rest his chin in his hands and just stare. That the way Derek said the most sarcastic shit with an even tone and deadpan expression made him unbearably curious, because he was sure there were untapped levels of sass that he had yet to discover. He didn’t think about any of that.

And he would have never thought about the massive crush he had on Derek Hale if he hadn’t been fairly smacked in the face with it.

Stiles knew who Kate Argent was, of course. They both lived in the same relatively small town where everyone knew everyone. He’d gone to school with her his whole life. He’d observed that she had a cruel streak, that she was manipulative and opportunistic, that she didn’t really care about anyone, but would listen to her brother if it happened to suit her at the time. He’d never had any reason to interact with her on a one-on-one basis, and hoped he’d never have to. Stiles didn’t have any feelings about Kate Argent except a vague wish to avoid gaining her attention.

Not even after he’d started hanging out with Derek and realized that she, manipulative, opportunistic Kate, was his girlfriend. 

It hadn’t really registered because he didn’t think about things like that. 

Until the day he went to the coffee shop and saw her making out with Derek on the sidewalk out front.

And abruptly, he hated her more than he’d ever hated anyone in his entire life.

‘ _Oh, fuck_ ,’ Stiles thought.

-

Derek was sitting with Stiles as he usually did while he was on break. At that particular moment, he was catching his breath from a joke Stiles had made, and it caused a comment Erica had made to pop into his head.

“Erica said I seem different,” Derek said.

“Different how?” Stiles asked.

“Happier or more relaxed or something,” Derek said.

“Was she right? Do you feel happier or more relaxed?” Stiles asked.

Derek blinked at him and took stock of himself in a way he hadn’t when Erica had made the comment. 

“Maybe?” he said hesitantly. He shook his head. “Isaac said it might be because I was spending more time with Kate, but we haven’t gone on a date in a few weeks. I only see her in between classes most of the time.”

Stiles paused and finally looked up from his sketchbook. “So you might be happier, but it’s probably not because you’re spending more time with Kate. Is there anything else that might have had that effect?”

Stiles desperately wanted to say anyone, but he knew better than to take that risk. Derek rested a chin in the palm of his hand, thick brows furrowed as he thought.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “It’s probably just that I’m finally getting used to working so much. Now that I have more energy, I can take Kate out on my days off!”

Derek smiled at Stiles, completely oblivious to how much it cost Stiles to smile back.

-

They progressed from casual acquaintances to true friends with indomitable ease.

Derek and Stiles would always talk a little when Stiles first entered the shop and was waiting for his drink. After the first few days of Stiles hanging out in the shop, Lucy would consistently move Stiles’ cup to the end of the line of drinks so they would end up talking for a while. Neither noticed her doing this, too involved in their conversation to realize they were talking for longer than they should be, which was enough proof for her that prolonging their conversation was something that was welcomed by them both. She had been the cashier that rang up Kate and Derek their first date in the shop before she transferred to her current store because they’d offered her a higher position. She hadn’t liked Kate at all, especially the way she’d railroaded Derek into paying for her without any consideration of whether he could afford it. Lucy thought she could see a spark between Derek and Stiles that would make Derek much happier. Ciani had warned her not to try and matchmake, but Lucy didn’t really consider what she was doing meddling. Not really.

After their initial conversation, they would chat more while Derek was on break. Stiles offered to keep giving Derek rides home, and Derek took him up on it. One day, Derek’s shift ended earlier than usual. He clocked out on the tail end of a massive rush and slumped into a chair across from Stiles.

“Ugh, I’m too tired to even move. I need to rest before I go home and collapse into bed,” he mumbled. Stiles had laughed at him, but they’d hung out in companionable silence for an hour before Derek finally said they could go. After that, if his shift ended early, they would hang out a little more before Stiles took him home. 

Derek’s schedule usually allowed him Friday nights off, and he tended to work Saturday and Sunday mornings. Somehow, through a combination of Kate canceling on him or just refusing to make concrete plans with him and his friends assuming that he was always working instead of free, he ended up spending most of his weekends with Stiles. They would go to the movies or the arcade or just walk around on Friday nights, and then spend the other days doing homework and studying together. 

Derek meant to use his newfound energy to start taking Kate out on dates more often. He really did. She was his girlfriend and he missed spending time with her. He missed kissing her and hearing her husky laugh and the way she looked at him like she would never let him get away. His moments with her were more fleeting than they had been when they first started going out, but it seemed like that only made him need her more.

He knew she felt the same way. Otherwise she wouldn’t kiss him the way she did every time they managed to meet up. They did more kissing than talking, but Kate always said it was because she wanted to be closer to him, closer than anyone else was. 

He felt the same way. He wanted to get closer to her in every way, physically and emotionally. So he would have loved to take her out on dates, which had become less frequent the longer they went out. 

The only thing was, Kate always seemed to be busy. Either with her friends or homework or family activities from which all outsiders were banned. And so, Derek ended up spending all of his free time with Stiles.

It was nice. Stiles wasn’t anywhere near as calm as Derek had initially thought he was. Derek realized it was because he was usually interacting with the other boy when he was already focused on something else. When Stiles’s mind was free from a project, he was basically all over the place and he never stopped talking. He seemed to have a knack for going off on his own tangent while still paying attention to how Derek was responding and at the same time interpreting Derek’s limited facial expressions in a way that only his family and closest friends had been able to do up to that point in his life. 

Kate sometimes got bored with the fact that he didn’t talk much. She said it was annoying that she had to carry the entire conversation. Derek simply preferred not to comment on anything he didn’t have a vested interest in. And it wasn’t entirely that he wasn’t interested in what Kate had to say, she spoke about things that were important to her and subsequently important to him. But it wasn’t anything he felt the need to debate or discuss because her opinions on things were usually about stuff he didn’t have enough of an opinion on to argue about.

But Stiles never expected him to participate. Not really. And if Derek did participate, he didn’t ignore the comments or stare at him like he was mentally deficient. He took it in stride, even when those comments led to a debate. In fact, it seemed like Stiles loved debating with Derek about anything and everything.

It was fun hanging out with him. Derek had never been so content with another person before. Even more so in those rare moments when Stiles did relax with him and they could just be together.

And… Stiles was actually really pretty. Derek had noticed other boys before. He hadn't really thought about it much because he knew without a doubt that his family would accept him no matter what his sexuality was. But he'd never been captivated by anyone the way he'd been captivated by Stiles. His eyes were beautiful. His hands were mesmerizing. And his mouth? His plush lips that were always bitten red and wrapped around something? Fuck. Just… fuck. 

Derek loved his girlfriend, he did. And he would never cheat on her. That would be despicable. But he wasn't going to deny to himself that Stiles was absolutely gorgeous.

Spending more time with him just made Derek realize he was beautiful inside and out.

-

The stars aligned and he was able to take Kate out on a date. Derek was so excited that he talked much more than he usually did, describing to Kate everything that he’d been up to since they’d last had the chance to really sit down and actually talk to each other.

He didn’t realize his discourse had a rather specific topic until his girlfriend couldn’t take it anymore.

“Oh my god, shut up about Stiles already,” Kate snapped. “You two aren’t even really friends.”

Derek stared at her, honestly confused. “What? Yes, we are.”

“Oh, please, Derek, do not tell me you’re actually that naive,” Kate said.

When Derek just stared at her, clearly not getting what she was talking about, she rolled her eyes.

“God, you actually are, aren’t you?” she said. “Who is Stiles Stilinski’s best friend?”

“Scott McCall.” Derek said instantly. Everyone knew that.

“And who is Scott’s girlfriend?” Kate asked, using a tone that implied she was talking to a simpleton.

“Your cousin Allison,” Derek said. Everyone knew that too. Scott was so in love with her, he practically shouted their relationship from the rooftops.

“And who has Scott spent all his time with since five months ago?” Kate asked snidely.

“Allison,” Derek said slowly, because that was when the couple had started officially going out.

“Which means Stiles is out a best friend,” Kate said, apparently tired of having to walk him through it. “He’s fucking lonely and anyone will do. You’re just a replacement until Scott gets his head out of the clouds and his dick out of my cousin’s cunt.”

Derek winced at her language, but then her words really registered in his brain.

Stiles was lonely without his best friend.

He was just looking for someone to pass the time with until Scott was paying attention to him again.

They weren’t really friends.

“So shut up about him, okay? Someone as fake as that isn’t worth your time,” Kate said.

Derek nodded mutely.

-

Hanging out with Derek had become an exciting kind of torture. Stiles now knew he didn’t just like Derek. He _liked_ Derek. He thought Derek was beautiful and funny and amazing. He wanted to have Derek’s babies.

And Derek was crazy in love with a miserable shrew that didn’t appreciate him in the slightest.

Derek didn’t necessarily talk about Kate nonstop like Scott did about Allison, but whenever she was brought up, he would go on and on about how all he wanted was to make her happy, even if it was by doing something for her that he wouldn’t necessarily want to do himself.

Stiles tried to steer the conversation away from her as much as possible. Watching Derek light up because he was excited about something was gratifying, but having him light up because he was talking about his girlfriend was agonizing.

It was amusing, though, that Stiles’ dedication to keeping Kate a taboo topic often sent them off on the weirdest conversational tangents.

“No, dude. Batman beats everyone and everything. Even Santa Claus,” Stiles said.

“Santa Claus literally has the power of the belief of millions of children,” Derek said.

“Batman has a utility belt.”

“Batman is probably on the naughty list, anyway,” Derek huffed.

“Um, excuse me, Batman literally fights evil all of the time. He’s definitely on the nice list,” Stiles argued.

“Starting a fight with Santa Claus automatically puts you on the naughty list,” Derek said.

“Who says Batman started the fight? Maybe jolly old St. Nick threw some coal at his head,” Stiles said.

“Why would Santa throw coal at Batman’s head?”

“Santa is a creeper that breaks into people’s houses. Why would I have any understanding of his thought process?”

“He breaks into people’s houses to leave presents.”

“That doesn’t make it less creepy, you know.”

“It’s not malicious,” Derek insisted.

“I didn’t say it was malicious. Just creepy,” Stiles grinned. He could tell by Derek’s expression that he really wanted to say something about it all being for children, but knowing that would only make it even worse. “So it’s totally possible that someone who should have been arrested on breaking and entering charges and animal cruelty forever ago would start a fight with Batman.”

“Wait, animal cruelty?”

“Um, yeah, dude. He makes those reindeer haul his fat ass and all the presents for all the children in the world all over the place for the whole night. And you think they can do that shit after lazing around all year doing nothing? Hell no. They definitely have training runs to keep them in shape and the amount they would have to do in order to haul that weight around for that distance for that period of time would mean they definitely have to train nonstop. So animal cruelty.”

Derek blinked at him and burst into laughter. Stiles tamped down on his automatic smile at the sound, not even realizing it was his eyes that really gave him away. They glowed with affection and pride and longing. He’d made Derek laugh. He immediately wanted to do it again, often, forever.

It didn’t matter that Derek was in love with someone else. Stiles had crushed on someone who had no interest in him before. He would settle for being friends with Derek if it gave him the opportunity to make the other boy laugh like that.

“Where do you come up with this stuff?” Derek asked, still chuckling a little.

“Ah, the wonders of an ADHD mind,” Stiles smirked. Derek shook his head and stretched back. Stiles couldn’t help the way his eyes traced the line of skin in between Derek’s jeans and his shirt. He wanted to lick it. He forcibly dragged his eyes away. “You’d be surprised what I can come up with.”

“You know, I don’t think I would be,” Derek replied with a slight smile. “I think I learned to expect the unexpected early on with you.”

“Oh no! I’ll have to find some way to keep the magic alive so you don’t get tired of me,” Stiles said. He was just joking. Kind of.

Derek stared at him more intently than Stiles would have expected from what was meant to sound like a facetious comment. “I doubt I could ever get tired of you. It’s more likely you’ll get tired of me.”

Stiles snorted at the absolute idiocy of such a claim. “That’s definitely not gonna happen, dude. But we can pretend if it’ll help keep the mystery alive.”

He looked away before he could catch the troubled expression on Derek’s face.

-

Kate kept looking at his ice cream.

“Do you want some?” Derek offered.

She wrinkled her nose. “No. Vanilla is so boring. I don’t get how you can eat it at all, let alone without toppings or anything. It’s so lame.”

Derek shrugged and set the cup down trying to hide how embarrassed he was. He like the simplicity of vanilla, but he could see how others might find it boring.

“My mom and I…” Derek started.

“You are literally the biggest mama’s boy I’ve ever met in my life,” Kate said, rolling her eyes, “And I know my brother.”

Derek fell silent. He nodded as Kate started talking about a cute top she’d seen at the mall that had been too expensive for her to buy.

-

Derek watched Stiles laugh, his own smile dimming.

The more time he spent with the other boy, the more he felt that Stiles was one of the few people he could really and truly trust outside of his family.

He wished they were actually friends. He wished Stiles liked him for him and not because he didn’t have anyone better to hang out with. He should probably be more offended that he was nothing more than a fill-in for Stiles. That he was just someone to pass time with until he could hang out with the person he actually wanted to hang out with. Like Kate said, Derek wasn’t really special to Stiles.

But Stiles was special to Derek. No matter how much pain it caused him, he couldn’t regret their friendship. Even if it wasn’t real to Stiles, even if it didn’t mean anything to the other boy, it was important to Derek. Stiles made him laugh. Stiles make him think about things in ways vastly different from what he was used to. Stiles drew people in the real gritty way they actually were, instead of some romanticized version that smoothed over their imperfections. Stiles was so hurt that Scott had abandoned him. (He never talked about Scott in anything but a positive manner, but Derek could tell. His eyes gave him away.) Stiles was so full of the energy of life, and Derek was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. He would keep hanging out with Stiles, even if he highly suspected it would lead to him getting burned, because he was helpless to do anything else.

He didn’t realize he’d zoned out until gentle, graphite-smudged fingers wrapped around his forearm. He looked up into concerned amber eyes,

“Are you okay?” Stiles asked.

“Fine,” Derek grinned, “I just zoned out for a sec.”

Stiles’ gaze flickered down to his mouth for a moment and his concern seemed to deepen. “I know the difference between your fake smile and your real smile, Derek,” he said slowly.

Derek blinked. He and Kate had been dating for almost eight months and she still couldn’t tell the difference, even if he wasn’t trying that hard. Sometimes he could even fool his family. So how did Stiles know? Derek curled into himself slightly, trying to avoid scrutiny, unintentionally pulling away from the other boy’s touch.

Stiles began to fidget with his clothes, and the silence grew awkward.

“Did I do something to make you upset?” the artist asked suddenly.

Derek looked at him in surprise. “What? No! Why would you think that?”

Stiles shrugged and looked away. “That’s been happening a lot lately,” he said quietly. “We’ll be having fun and all of a sudden you’ll look really sad.” He paused. “And you always lie when I ask you if you’re okay.”

Derek looked away, unaware of the furious scowl on his face, “Sometimes my thoughts get to me,” he muttered.

“Okay,” Stiles murmured. “I just don’t like seeing you sad.”

Derek looked up at that. Stiles’ expression was earnest, so he nodded and sincerely apologized in return.

He hadn’t realized he was being that obvious. But when he thought about it, he realized that Stiles never let him stew in his thoughts for long. He always pulled him back into the conversation with some joke or incendiary comment. That was something friends did, wasn’t it? Then again, Stiles was also a kind person underneath all the smarts and sass and sarcasm. On the other hand, he was also kind of self-serving underneath the kindness. Derek should probably stop trying to figure him out and just accept anything he did at face value. Constantly contemplating the authenticity of their friendship made him sad, and Stiles was clearly starting to notice.

He glanced up to find Stiles watching him again.

“You said you stopped by the library today,” he prompted before Stiles could push.

The other boy gave him a look, but allowed the topic to change.

“Yeah, dude, and those kids are still hanging out there,” he started.

-

Stiles wasn’t quite sure what was going on with Derek.

For a little bit there, he’d been kind of distant. He didn’t stop spending time with Stiles or talking to him, but sometimes he’d seem completely checked out, not really paying attention to their interactions. Stiles had assumed he’d finally become a bit too much for Derek to handle. No matter what he’d said, there was no way Derek was really worried about Stiles getting tired of him. He had to have been joking. And Stiles had been completely correct when he’d said that it would be Derek who would want to ditch Stiles. That was what was happening.

Except was it?

After Stiles had mentioned him seeming sad and out of it, Derek had been mostly back to normal. There were some times when he still looked a bit upset, but those were few and far between. Was Stiles supposed to assume that Derek hadn’t been upset over something he’d done? Or had telling Derek that he’d noticed he was distressed resolved what Derek might have been troubled over?

Maybe Derek had noticed Stiles’ crush on him? But then wouldn’t he have said something? Wouldn’t knowing that Stiles paid close attention to him make him more agitated instead of calming him down?

Stiles groaned, and scrubbed his face with his hands. He looked down at the sketch in front of him. It was a picture of Derek on break, ripping apart the bagel he usually got to dip it into the cream cheese instead of using a knife like a normal, sane person. Stiles shook his head at his work.

It would be best if no one ever saw his drawings of Derek. They made his feelings about the other boy way too obvious.

Feelings he hoped Derek remained entirely unaware of. He couldn’t take the chance that Derek would want to end their friendship over something like that. It wasn’t like he was flirting or trying to lure him away from his girlfriend, but Derek might think it would be nicer to Stiles to stop hanging out with him so he wouldn’t lead him on. Stiles would rather sit next to Derek every day knowing they would never be more than friends, than only have a few glimpses him from afar because they didn’t even talk. Maybe he was being masochistic, but he just cared about Derek so much. He couldn’t stay away. It made him understand Scott’s focus on Allison a little. A very little.

Either way, Derek seemed to be better now. Which was really all Stiles wanted. For Derek to be happy.

-

“Hey, I'm going out. Tell Talia I won't be home for dinner,” Peter said, poking his head into Derek's room.

He turned away from his desk. “You know she's starting to get suspicious about how often you're gone lately. What are you gonna say when she asks what you're doing all the time?”

“Why don't you let me worry about that, nephew,” Peter said condescendingly.

Derek rolled his eyes like he always did whenever his uncle called him nephew because they really weren't that far apart in age. Peter just liked being a dick.

“Okay, I'll tell her.” He paused. “But you're okay right? Nothing's wrong?”

Peter sighed at his soft-hearted nephew who was nonetheless his favorite.

“I'm fine. You should worry about yourself.”

Derek frowned at him, clearly confused. “There's nothing wrong with me,” he said.

“Oh? When was the last time you saw your girlfriend outside of school?”

“I… it's been a while. We're both really busy and she doesn't want to ditch her friends for me. She says girls who do that are the worst.”

“Hm. And when was the last time you bought her something?”

Derek paused. Getting a vague sense of what his uncle was implying and not liking it at all. “This morning. I paid for her breakfast.”

“But you didn't see her?”

“No. I just sent her the money through Venmo.”

“Right. And when was the last time you saw Stiles?”

Derek wasn’t even aware of the way the tension flowed out of his shoulders. The slight smile on his face, the spark in his eyes as he thought about Stiles.

“We hung out yesterday,” Derek grinned.

Peter raised an eyebrow at him. Derek stared back without completely oblivious. Peter sighed.

“Alright, I'm gonna go,” he said.

Derek shrugged, understanding that Peter had meant for him to realize something and he'd missed it. “Okay, I'll tell mom.”

Peter left and then poked his head back in.

“Hey, by the way, you have a massive crush on Stiles.”

He disappeared again.

Derek stared at his empty doorway with wide eyes.

‘ _Oh, fuck_ ,’ he thought.

-

“I really liked that movie,” Derek said as they walked out of the theater.

Kate shrugged. “It was okay,” she said. Then she smiled a little and turned to him. “The best part was when he picked her up in his arms and spun her around, no problem.” Her smile faded as she surveyed him up and down. “I guess you wouldn’t be able to do that. Have you ever stepped foot in a gym?”

Derek crossed his arms defensively. He had some natural muscle and he went running a couple times a week, but it wasn’t anything serious. His mom said he just hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet.

“Boyd goes to the gym,” Derek said hesitantly. “I could start going with him.”

Kate turned to him with a brilliant smile. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said eagerly, glad to do anything that would make her happy.

She leaned closer, lips brushing against his ear. “I want you strong enough to hold me up against a wall,” she said.

Derek blushed. He couldn’t even speak, just nodded in response.

-

Kate arched her back in a slow, sinuous stretch, before falling back to the bed, lips curved in a smirk.

“You look so damn smug,” Deucalion growled.

“I am smug,” she replied airily.

“If anyone should be smug, it should be me,” he said, feigning a pout. “I did most of the work.”

Kate raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” It took but a moment to flip them so she was on top, straddling his waist. “You did put in a lot of effort, didn’t you? How about a reward?”

Deucalion’s eyes gleamed. He slid his hands along her bare skin. “That depends on your definition of reward.”

Kate leaned down, close enough that he could almost, almost feel her lips against his. “Instead of a definition, how about an example,” she breathed.

He felt the barely there touch of her lips all the way down his torso, panting as she moved closer and closer to where he needed her. But nothing was ever that easy with Kate. She brushed her lips along his tip, against his balls, pursed them so he could just feel them against the base of his straining cock.

“Fuck, Kate, this seems more like torture to me.”

The feel of her warm breath ghosting against the most sensitive skin on his body as she laughed made him shudder.

“It’s a reward. Could you imagine, then, what torture would be like?”

Before he could respond, she’d sucked him down to the root.

‘ _Oh, fuck_ ,’ he thought.

-

Derek wasn’t really mad at Peter, per se. He just hated him. A lot.

He had been fine thinking he and Stiles were just really good friends. He hadn’t needed to know that there were… feelings. Romantic type feelings.

He had a girlfriend! Whom he also had feelings for! How was he supposed to deal with this?!

If Derek didn’t know Peter well enough to know that forcing him into this realization was Peter’s version of being helpful, he would have given his uncle a piece of his mind. Or at least mentioned to his mother that he was a bit worried about how shady Peter had been acting lately so she would put more effort into figuring out why he was suddenly disappearing all the time.

Maybe he should ask his friends for advice.

Had he even told them he was hanging out with Stiles so often? He didn’t think so. And besides, they would jump on him having doubts about Kate and try to convince him to dump her.

Maybe he should try talking to Laura.

No, she hated Kate. Even though Kate had never been anything but nice to her, Laura said it was just a front and she wasn’t going to fall for it. She’d just tell him to dump Kate and ask out Stiles without really considering the consequences for that.

He tried to think of someone else he was close to that didn’t already hate Kate, but the only person he could think of that he would feel comfortable talking to about something like this was Stiles. And he couldn’t talk to Stiles about possibly liking Stiles more than he liked Kate who he’d thought he was in love with.

Why did everyone he know hate Kate?

Rather than take the time to truly contemplate that question, Derek tried to figure out how to feel about liking Stiles. Did he like Stiles? Or was he just freaking out because Peter had put the idea in his head? He wouldn’t have freaked out if it wasn’t true, though, right?

He pictured Stiles, imagined him grinning brightly at him. He couldn’t help the automatic smile that took over his own face. Derek pictured those eyes darkened with arousal as Stiles leaned forward to kiss him.

His heart nearly beat out of his chest.

Okay, so he was clearly into the idea of kissing Stiles. He adjusted himself in his now uncomfortable jeans. Really into it.

Frustrated, he rubbed his face with his hands.

So, he got along with Stiles really well. Just as well as he got along with his friends, which was a huge deal because he didn’t usually connect so easily with other people. Also, he was sexually attracted to Stiles. He’d noticed before Stiles was beautiful. And now just the thought of Stiles’ mouth on his, the thought of Derek being the reason it was bitten red… Fuck.

Whenever Stiles talked about Scott, Derek felt protective. Like weirdly protective. Stiles hid it pretty well, but he missed his best friend and was really hurt that Scott didn’t seem to miss him at all. On the other hand, Derek knew Stiles was clever and strong enough to handle himself in almost any situation.

Basically, he liked Stiles. He felt a connection between them. He admired him. He was super attracted to him. And if he let himself, he could imagine them being good together.

Derek felt like his feelings had strayed way too far into like territory and he was in danger of falling off a sheer cliff straight into love.

Except he was already in a relationship with a girl that was much too good for him. Derek tried, he really did, but he knew he didn’t always make Kate happy. There was no guarantee he would be enough for Stiles if he wasn’t enough to Kate. Not to mention, that he didn’t actually want to break up with her. He cared about her. Apparently, not in the same way that he cared about Stiles, but still deeply.

Derek honestly didn’t know what he was supposed to do about this. He didn’t want to pull away from Stiles. The other boy would just think he’d been right about Derek getting tired of him. Plus, Derek refused to treat Stiles the way Scott treated him, just throwing him away for the attention of a girl. So he wouldn’t just drop Stiles. But how was he supposed to hang out with him when he knew he had romantic feelings for him?

Was Stiles even gay?

Not that it mattered since Stiles would never be interested in him as more than a friend.

Except would he?

It didn’t matter!

Derek had to keep reminding himself of that. Kate was his girlfriend. Stiles was his friend. That’s the way it was. That’s the way it was staying.

-

Derek knocked on Kate’s front door. He always had to force himself to knock loudly. Her family made him feel so timid.

After several moments, the door swung open.

Kate’s older brother stood in the doorway. His piercing blue eyes swept up and down, zeroing in on the gift bag in Derek’s hand.

“What did you do this time?” Chris asked.

Derek blinked. “I didn’t do anything,” he replied, “She just mentioned that I hadn’t gotten her a present in a while.”

Chris shook his head and stepped aside to let Derek in. “You realize you don’t actually have to get her presents whenever she wants right?”

Derek studied the other boy, he’d never known quite how to feel about Chris. The guy wasn’t nice per se and Derek was pretty sure that wherever Peter kept disappearing to, Chris was probably there, but he seemed honorable and fair despite his stoicism. Derek decided that Chris was trying to help him, though he didn’t understand the advice.

“It makes her happy,” he replied.

Chris shook his head and wandered in the direction of the kitchen. “She’s in her room with Julia and Jennifer,” he called over his shoulder.

Derek walked up the stairs, making his way slowly to Kate’s room. He didn’t like spending time with her when she was with her friends. She liked to point things out about him that made them laugh. He could already hear them giggling.

“...and now he’s hanging around that stupid Stilinski kid all the time.”

“But you don’t even want to hang out with Derek,” one of the twins said, “You don’t even like him.”

Kate scoffed. “Of course I don’t like him. Maybe if he wanted to fuck, but he just wants to _talk_. And by that, I mean listen to me talk.”

“So why is it a problem that he's hanging out with Stiles?”

“Because they’re not just playing video games or whatever. They, like, go out and shit. Which means Derek’s spending money and it’s not being spent on me.”

“Just complain a little. You know he’s desperate to make you happy. That’s why you started dating him,” a twin said.

“I’m so glad I got him to start working out. He’s already starting to build a little muscle. But it’s always been about the money. You guys know I almost broke up with him when I realized his parents don’t just give him a ridiculous allowance.”

“And then he got a job like a good little puppy, to please his mistress.”

The sound of Kate’s husky laughter floated through the open doorway. “Oh my god, you know I actually slipped and called him that and he thought it was like affectionate and shit?” The twins joined in laughing.

Derek turned around and went back downstairs. He walked into the kitchen, looking for Chris. The older boy was eating, but when he caught sight of Derek, he quickly swallowed and stood.

“You okay?” his tone was just shy of concerned. Derek could tell he’d noted the gift bag was still in his hand.

“Do you have a pen and paper?” he asked shakily.

Chris nodded slowly, gaze finally reaching the level of concerned. He went to a drawer near the fridge and pulled out a small shopping list pad. Derek took it and quickly wrote something out before ripping it off, folding it in half, and writing Kate’s name on it. He handed it to Chris, along with the gift bag.

“Give these to her, please,” he said. Quickly, he turned around and practically ran out of the house.

Chris stared down at the items in his hands. Usually, he wouldn’t care enough, but he suspected that Kate was just using the kid. He went upstairs immediately, knocked on Kate’s door, and opened it.

“Derek told me to give you these,” he said holding up the bag and note.

Kate stared at him. “What?” The twins stared at him also, but they always acted like they were undressing him with their eyes.

“Derek asked me to give these to you,” Chris repeated, “What did you even say to him? He looked really upset.”

“Wait, he was here? Like, in the house?” she asked.

Now Chris was confused. “Yeah, he came upstairs and then a few minutes later he came downstairs upset and asked me to give these to you.”

“Shit,” Kate said, standing from the bed. “Was the door open before?” she asked, glancing at the twins. They shrugged. Kate snatched the note from Chris’s hand and read through it. “Yeah, he totally heard us.” She handed the note back to her brother and took the gift bag. “You can toss that,” she said, indicating the note.

Chris opened it instead.

_Now I know I never meant anything to you. You only dated me so I would buy you things. Here is the last present you will ever receive from me._  
_It’s over._

Chris read over it again.

“You only dated him for his money?” he asked.

Kate gave him a look. “Why the hell else would I date that scrawny nerd?”

“Because he’s a really nice kid, and he treats you like a fucking queen,” Chris glared.

Kate rolled her eyes. “First of all, I am a queen. Second of all, you couldn’t give less of a fuck about Derek. The only reason you’re even faking concern is because you’re fucking his uncle.” Chris drew back at that. “Yeah,” Kate sneered, “Everyone knows about that. You two aren’t exactly subtle.”

The older boy could see from the twins’ expressions that no, not everyone knew about that. But it was still annoying and hurtful that Kate had revealed it like that.

Chris watched as his sister pulled a lovely necklace from the bag. She smiled, and he was furious. He walked over and snatched it out of her hand along with the gift bag.

“Chris, what the fuck, give me my necklace back!”

“No. You’re a bitch and you don’t deserve it.”

He walked out of the room, determined to hide the necklace until he could get it back to Derek so the boy could return it and get his money back.

-

Derek heard the knock at his door, but made no move to answer it. It was probably just a family member leaving some food for him. They would come get it in an hour or so. Depending on who it was, they might barge in and try to force him to eat it. He’d stopped locking the door after his mom threatened to kick it open. No way he was going to call that bluff when he knew she knew tae kwon do and taught self-defense classes down at the Y.

The knock came again, and Derek just burrowed himself deeper into his nest of blankets.

“Hey, Derek. It’s Stiles.”

Derek’s eyes snapped open at that. Stiles? Why was he here?

“I just wanna talk, dude.”

Derek closed his eyes again.

There was a long pause. Then, “Unless you tell me to leave right now, I’m coming in.”

Derek opened his eyes and stared at the door. He was distantly happy that Laura had forced him into the shower that morning and that his sheets had been changed while he was in the bathroom. At least he didn’t smell as terrible as he felt.

Stiles opened his door and walked directly to his bed.

“Wow, dude, you look like shit.” Derek only looked at him. He watched Stiles wince once he realized exactly what he’d said. “Sorry, sorry,” he said hastily, “That wasn’t very nice.” Derek didn’t respond. He was hoping that his stare would be enough to freak Stiles out and make him leave. He was also hoping Stiles was more stubborn than that.

“You haven’t been to school for the past couple days.” Silence. “Is it because of Kate?” A glare. “Sorry, I just… She’s been telling people that you guys broke up.” Derek rolled onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. “Are you okay?” Stiles asked.

Derek sighed. “Why are you here, Stiles?”

“To check up on you,” the other teen responded instantly, seeming relieved that Derek had finally said something.

The dark-haired teen snorted. “Oh, really? Why’s that?”

“What do you mean why?” Stiles asked. “Because we’re friends.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Right.”

Maybe he was imagining it, but Stiles’ tone sounded a bit hurt when he started to speak again. “Derek, what…”

“Get out,” Derek said, closing his eyes.

“What, no!” Stiles said.

“I said leave, Stiles.”

“And I said no,” Stiles snarled. “What the fuck is your problem?”

“You’re my problem!” Derek shouted, sitting upright. “You and your fake concern.”

“Fake?” Stiles asked, clearly affronted. “I’m not faking anything. I’ve been really worried.”

“Get the fuck out of my house with your stupid lies,” Derek hissed. “And while you’re at it, you can stop pretending to be my friend too.”

“Are you serious right now?” Stiles gaped. “Why would I pretend to be your friend?”

Derek laughed. It was a horrible sound that seemed to claw its way out of his throat. “Oh, please. You think I don’t know you only started hanging around me because you were lonely? You think I don’t know you were just shopping around for someone to replace Scott while he and Allison are in their perpetual honeymoon phase? I know I’m second best to your real best friend. I know you just thought I’d do well enough until Scott get his head clear from Allison-fog. I was fine with it before, but I just can’t now okay? So just… just leave okay? Leave.”

He flopped back onto his bed, trying hard not to let his tears fall. Kate had always told him he was too emotional for a boy.

“Derek,” Stiles said lowly.

He sounded so sad. Derek’s breath hitched as he tried to stifle a sob.

“Derek, please.”

Derek just screwed his eyes shut more tightly. Until the bed dipped when Stiles climbed on. The lanky teen straddled his hips, leaning forward so there was a hand on either side of Derek’s head.

“Look at me,” Stiles insisted. “Derek, look at me.” Derek stared up into bright amber eyes. “I was lonely. I was looking for someone to spend time with. But you’re not a replacement, okay? I’m not just hanging around until Scott decides to get his head on straight. I like you. I really, genuinely like you. For you. I like the way you got really good at making drinks so you wouldn’t have to talk to customers as much. I like the way you love vanilla ice cream. I like the way you’ll argue with about ridiculous things like Batman versus Santa Claus. I like the way you hate broccoli, but you’ll eat brussels sprouts all day. I like the way you scrunch up your nose when you laugh. I like the way you’re protective over your little sister even though you know she can kick ass. I like the way you’re so completely whipped by the women in your family. I like the way you try to help people. I like the way you remember the little things that make people happy. I’m not pretending to be your friend, Derek. Nothing about our relationship is fake, okay. At least not on my end. I like you. I promise.”

Derek blinked up at Stiles’ earnest expression until his vision was too blurred with tears for him to see it properly. He surged upwards on a broken sob. Stiles leaned back in time so that their heads wouldn’t smash together. Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles’ waist and buried his face in Stiles’ chest. Stiles shifted so his weight was properly distributed on Derek’s thighs and pulled him as close as possible.

“It’s true,” he whispered, stroking a hand down Derek’s trembling back. “We’re friends. I really like you for you. You’re not a replacement.”

They ended up with Stiles flat on his back, Derek curled into his side, head on his chest listening to Stiles’ heartbeat. One of Stiles’ hand carded through Derek’s hair while the other stroked along the arm Derek had slung around his waist.

“Why did you think I was only pretending to be your friend?” Stiles asked quietly. “Did I do something to make you think that?”

Derek sighed quietly. “No, it wasn’t anything you did. The thought never would have occurred to me if Kate hadn’t said something.”

Stiles’ arms tightened involuntarily. He exhaled slowly and relaxed his grip. “You shouldn’t put so much stock in what Kate says,” he said slowly.

For a little while, Derek didn’t speak. Then, abruptly, “She was using me for money.”

Stiles went completely still. “What,” he asked flatly.

“She just wanted a sucker who would buy her things,” Derek said. “I was the sucker.”

“Derek,” Stiles said, “That’s so…”

“Pathetic, I know,” Derek said.

“No, it’s so completely fucked up and wrong. She’s wrong, Derek. That’s not an okay thing to do.”

Derek didn’t respond in any way besides burrowing more into Stiles’s side.

Eventually, Stiles asked, “She told you that when you guys broke up?”

Derek shook his head. “I overheard her speaking to the twins. I broke up with her when I found out.”

Stiles hummed. “You know she’s telling people she broke up with you.”

“She can tell people whatever she wants as long as she stays away from me.”

Stiles nodded and didn’t stop himself from dropping a kiss on Derek’s head.

“Your family is worried. Especially your sisters.,” he said, “Can I tell them what happened?”

“No!” Derek responded instantly, looking at the other boy in alarm. “You can’t tell them anything.”

Stiles said softly, “I know you probably don’t want to talk about it anymore, but if you want them to know and don’t know how to tell them, I can explain. If you’d like.”

“No,” Derek repeated.

“Derek, after what she did, Kate doesn’t deserve for you to protect her. Don’t you think she deserves to be punished in some way?”

Derek blinked at him, then shook his head slowly, hunching in on himself. “Not really.” Stiles understood that Derek didn’t think it was worth getting upset over because _he_ wasn’t worth getting upset over. “Besides, it’s not really about protecting Kate. It’s about protecting my sisters.”

“You really think Kate could take on your sisters and actually hurt them?” Stiles asked.

Derek could hear the skepticism in his tone and wasn’t even a little surprised. That wasn’t what he was worried about after all. “I think my sisters would tag team torturing her until she committed suicide or they accidentally killed her. I would rather my siblings didn’t do time for murder, thank you.”

Stiles snorted. “I think you’re severely underestimating your sisters’ ability to not get caught, dude.” Derek thought Stiles might have a point, but he wouldn’t admit it because that might give Stiles an excuse to tell his sisters what had happened. “And anyway, my dad’s the sheriff. I’m sure I could get him to pull some strings so that even if they do get caught, which I doubt they would, it wouldn’t be on their record.”

He was confused by the expression on Derek’s face at that statement. It looked almost like awe.

“You’d do that for them?” the other boy asked slowly.

“I’d do that for you,” Stiles replied instantly.

Derek smiled, but didn’t say anything and Stiles decided to stop pushing. He would find some other way to let Laura and Cora know.

“Are you going back to school tomorrow?”

Derek shrugged.

“I’ll come pick you up. And I’ll stay with you as much as I can. I promise.” Derek didn’t respond. Stiles shifted so that he could tilt the other boy’s face up. “Please?”

Derek stared up into warm honey eyes. “Okay,” he said.

Stiles grinned at him. “Great! I’ll be here tomorrow.”

“Can you..” Derek stopped himself.

“Whatever it is, I’ll do it,” Stiles said. “I mean, if I can afford it. And it doesn’t involve something illegal. Actually, scratch that. I would do something illegal for you. As long as I wouldn’t be maimed or killed while doing it. And…”

“Stiles,” Derek chuckled. The lanky teen grinned at the sound. Derek’s smile faded as he looked up. “Can you just stay a while longer?” he asked softly, unable to hide how vulnerable he was at the moment.

Stiles’ expression softened. He tightened his arms, pulling Derek closer. “As long as you want me to,” he said solemnly. Derek sighed and relaxed against him.

-

Erica sat down in front of him. “So are you gonna tell us what actually happened? Because Stiles isn’t talking, and we know Kate’s spouting bullshit,” she said.

Derek looked at her, then Boyd and Isaac beside her. If they knew the truth, they would only be slightly less likely to kill Kate than his sisters.

He hesitated, trying to figure out what to say.

“So it’s bad,” Erica said, anger already in her expression.

“Erica,” Derek sighed.

“We won’t try to get back at her, if you don’t want us to,” Boyd said.

Erica side-eyed him, but didn’t respond. Which meant she wasn’t actually promising not to do anything to Kate.

“Fine. I’ll tell you guys if you promise not to do anything. Even you, Isaac,” Derek said.

Eyebrows went up. If Derek thought Isaac would be willing to fuck with Kate on his own, then it must actually be bad.

Silent conversation between the three of them while Derek waited patiently.

“I promise I won’t do anything to Kate,” Boyd said.

“I promise I won’t do anything to Kate,” Isaac said.

Erica pursed her lips unhappily. After Boyd nudged her, she huffed and said, “I promise not to do anything to Kate for what she did to you.”

Derek’s eyes narrowed, sensing the loophole, but not being able to spot it. Erica didn’t back down, looking directly into his eyes with an unwavering stare.

“I broke up with her because I overheard her telling the twins about how she was only using me for my money. She almost dumped me when she found out my parents didn’t just pay for anything I wanted, but she convinced me to get a job so…” He shrugged.

“Wait, that’s why you’re always broke even though you work so much? Because you’ve been spending all your money on Kate?” Erica asked.

Derek looked away.

“Sorry, I just… Please tell me you know that’s a fucked up thing for her to do and it’s not your fault she’s a complete and total bitch,” Erica said.

Derek sighed.

“Derek,” Isaac said.

“I know it was wrong of her to go out with me just so I would buy her things,” Derek interrupted. “I just feel like I should have realized…”

“No one goes into a relationship expecting to be taken advantage of, Derek,” Boyd said.

“I know that,” he growled in frustration. “But you guys didn’t like her. My sisters didn’t like her. She didn’t want to meet my parents. I hardly ever saw her. All she did was ask me for money. It wasn’t exactly difficult for her to take advantage of me, whether I was expecting it or not.”

Erica and Boyd shared a helpless glance.

“Derek,” Isaac started again, “You had genuine feelings for her, and you just wanted to make her happy. Are you going to beat yourself up over wanting to make someone you care about happy?”

“I should have been smart enough to realize she wasn’t worth caring about,” Derek replied.

“Do you really think we always have control over who we care about?”

An image of Stiles popped into Derek’s head.

How much had he been struggling over his less than platonic feelings for the other boy?

He nodded, acknowledging that Isaac had a point. But that didn’t mean he didn’t still feel terrible about it.

Realizing that that was as much as they could push right now, Isaac, Erica, and Boyd allowed Derek to stay silent while they discussed inconsequential things.

-

“Dude.”

Stiles jerked in surprise, having been too lost in his thoughts to realize Scott was standing right next to him.

“Oh, hey,” he said in surprise. He automatically checked to see whether Allison was close by. He didn't see her anywhere, and he experienced another moment of surprise that Scott had actually detached himself from her side. “What's up dude?”

He wondered if Scott had come to apologize for disappearing on him for months.

“I think you should stop hanging out with Derek Hale.”

Apparently not.

“Um, what?” Stiles asked, hardly able to believe he’d actually heard what he thought he'd just heard.

“Stop hanging out with Derek Hale,” Scott repeated seriously.

Stiles stared at him. What the fuck was going on right now? Was Scott jealous of Derek? But that made literally no sense.

”Why?” Stiles asked.

“Because he broke Allison's cousin’s heart,” Scott said as if he had any idea what he was talking about. “He's a jerk.”

‘ _What the fuck is happening right now?_ ’ Stiles thought again. After taking another moment to process the insane amount of utter ridiculousness that was occurring at the moment, he responded.

“No.”

“What?” Scott asked, actually sounding shocked. “ Why not?”

“Why should I?” Stiles asked, slamming his locker closed.

“I just told you!” Scott said.

“You just told me some bullshit,” Stiles scoffed.

“Stiles,” Scott started.

“Derek didn't break Kate's heart,” Stiles interrupted. “And even if he did, why should I care about your girlfriend’s cousin’s broken heart. That's a bit too far removed for me to give a shit.”

Scott sighed. “You should care because it's important to Allison which means it's important to me,” he explained.

Stiles snorted. “Yes, and?”

“What? Stiles, we're best friends!” Scott said.

Stiles whirled on him. “Why don't you check your phone and see the date stamp on the last time you texted me, then come back and tell me I should give a shit about anything important to you. You've been ignoring me for months, Scott. And now you come out of nowhere and demand I drop a friend, the same way you dropped me, on the whim of your fucking girlfriend who literally has no idea what the situation even is because she believes the absolute garbage lies Kate is spewing?”

“Allison didn't ask me to talk to you,” Scott said.

“Great! It’s just you that's an asshole then,” Stiles said. He started walking to class again.

“Stiles, are you seriously not going to stop hanging out with Derek?” Scott asked.

“There is literally no reason I should stop hanging out with Derek,” Stiles replied angrily.

“Isn't me asking enough of a reason?” Scott demanded.

“No!” Stiles exclaimed.

“Since when?” Scott asked, managing to sound betrayed and petulant at the same time.

Stiles stared at him and disbelief before shaking his head and continuing to walk.

“Why are you so sure Derek didn't do anything wrong?” Scott asked brusquely. “What did he tell you?”

“What Derek told me is none of your fucking business,” Stiles said fiercely.

“So you're not sure he's telling the truth,” Scott concluded smugly.

“I know he's telling the truth and it's still none of your fucking business,” Stiles snarled.

“If Kate's been lying, then why doesn't Derek come out with the truth and expose her so people don't think he's such a jerk?” Scott asked rudely.

“Because Derek is a good person that doesn't like to talk badly about people even if they deserve it. Can you say the same about Kate?” Stiles sneered back.

“Stiles?”

Stiles spun around to face Derek.

“Derek,” he said softly.

“Is everything okay?” Derek asked, eyes flickering between him and Scott.

Stiles knew Derek had probably heard his last comment about Kate and rushed to reassure him, but Scott interrupted before he could get a word out.

“No, everything’s not okay. But it will be once you leave my best friend the hell alone,” he said.

Derek looked him up and down with as much disdain as it was possible for his eyebrows to produce. Which was a fuckton. “Your best friend? I didn't know you could switch friendship on and off like a fucking lamp.”

Stiles’ eyes nearly popped out of his head. Holy shit. He'd known Derek had The Sass in him, but he hadn't known it was this strong.

He heard someone choke on their coffee and a low mutter of, “ _Goddamn_.” Which made him realize they definitely had an audience.

Stiles decided it would be best if they had this conversation away from the nosy gossipmongers of their high school. He grabbed Derek and Scott by the straps of their backpacks and dragged them into the nearest empty classroom.

Derek looked between Stiles and Scott and said, “I’m not trying to fight anyone.”

“There’s nothing to fight about,” Stiles and Scott said in unison. Scott shot Derek a triumphant look. It was quickly wiped off his face when Stiles continued.

“Scott, you don’t have the right to tell me who I can and can’t be friends with. That’s why there’s nothing to fight about,” Stiles said.

“Why would you even want to be friends with him?” Scott demanded, gesturing sharply at Derek.

“Because I like him,” Stiles snapped. “Do I need more of a reason than that?” Scott opened his mouth. “The answer is no, because I don’t have to justify myself to you.”

“Are you serious right now?” Scott asked furiously.

“Yes, I’m serious. I can’t believe you think this is okay!” Stiles said.

“I’m just trying to protect you from-”

“Protect me? Derek would never hurt me! He-”

“He hurt Kate! She said-”

“Kate is a lying bitch and you don’t know anything about-”

“Don’t talk about her like that! She’s Allison’s-”

“I don’t give a fuck about her relationship with Allison! And you-”

“I can’t believe you don’t even care about-”

“Why would I care? What possible reason-”

“I already told you why you-”

“You told me some bull-fucking-shit is what you told me. Do you really think-”

“Yes, I really think it matters, Stiles! What’s bullshit is-”

“Don’t you dare, Scott! You have no right to-”

“I’m your best friend!”

“You are not my best friend!”

It took Stiles several moments of furious panting to fully register the hurt on Scott’s face. He played back his words. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to apologize, but Scott’s expression twisted in anger.

“Scott,” Stiles tried.

He turned and stormed out.

“Scott!” Stiles yelled, heading after him. He tripped and slammed his shoulder into the door frame. A hand grabbed him to steady him, and he whirled.

Derek backed away, holding his hands up. Stiles sighed and pressed his face into his hands.

“Sorry. I’m sorry. I actually kind of forgot you were there,” he said.

Derek nodded. “That was intense.”

Stiles snorted and gave him a look that clearly meant: Understatement of the century.

“Is that true?” Derek asked, “That he’s not your best friend?”

“I really don’t know,” Stiles said, shaking his head. “I feel like I’ll always think of him as my best friend. But he hasn’t been acting like it lately. Maybe for even longer than that.” He shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just being selfish or oversensitive.”

Derek’s arms wrapped around him. Stiles blinked at the wall in his direct line of vision over Derek’s shoulder. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around Derek’s waist. When Derek simply held him tighter, he responded in kind.

“You matter, Stiles.”

The sting of tears hit him hard and he inhaled harshly, trying to get air past his suddenly clogged throat. Stiles buried his face in Derek’s shoulder, trying like hell not to actually cry on him.

He failed.

-

Derek didn’t work every day anymore. Without Kate eating up his paycheck, he had more than enough for both fun and savings from working just four days a week. He got to spend way more time with his friends. And he got to spend time with Stiles.

The other boy still hadn’t made up with Scott. It seemed like the scale had tipped the other way. Before, Scott had been angry while Stiles had been terribly upset by their fight. Judging from the puppy eyes Scott was now sending Stiles and the glacier cold shoulder Stiles was giving Scott, it was now the other way around.

Derek felt guilty for being the tiniest bit happy that they hadn’t made up. Stiles had convinced him that they were actually friends, but he knew Scott had held a top position in Stiles’ life for a long, long time. He was worried that he would see less of Stiles once they made up. Which he had to admit to himself was the last thing he wanted.

Derek knew the last thing he needed was a new relationship when he was barely out of the last horrible one he had, but Stiles wasn't like Kate. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that. Part of it was that his family and friends actually liked Stiles. Part of it was that Stiles would never be so despicable as Kate was. Sure, he has the capacity to be that ruthless, but he wouldn't be if the situation didn’t call for it. He wouldn't be cruel to someone he liked. He would only do that to someone who harmed someone he liked.

Derek wasn't quite sure what to do. Should he make a move? Should he wait until enough time had passed since he'd broken up with Kate? What counted as enough time? If he was going by Kate's example, he would have already asked Stiles out by now. It didn't take two days after they broke up before she was making out with some college boy in the parking lot. A lot of people had looked at him, expecting him to freak out, but Derek honestly didn't care what Kate did. That guy would find out what she was really like, and if he was worse than her, she would get what she deserved. If they were equally bad, then they deserved each other.

Derek had said as much to Stiles and the boy had blinked at him before smiling slowly.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Stiles said. “You're just really cute.”

Derek's eyes widened. Stiles had been saying stuff like that more often lately, and he wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be some sort of self-esteem boost thing or if the other boy really meant it.

“Thanks,” he mumbled shyly, which just made Stiles grin more.

Derek's eyes lingered on the curve of his mouth, and he was no closer to knowing how to handle the Stiles situation.

-

Erica was a little bit annoyed.

“You can't meddle,” Boyd said.

“But their sexual tension is driving me crazy,” she whined.

“Meddling might make it worse,” Boyd said calmly. “Then it will take longer.”

“But they’re so _dumb_. And it’s already taking _forever_ ,” Erica moaned.

They watched the pair. Stiles was chattering on while picking the bell peppers off his pizza. One came attached with a long string of cheese, which he wrapped around a long finger, that he then popped into his mouth and slid out slowly, still mumbling around the digit. Derek’s eyes were glazed and he looked this close to actually drooling.

Erica gave her boyfriend a flat look. He looked back at her, a little amused, a little despairing, but definitely determined.

“No meddling,” he repeated.

Erica rolled her eyes dramatically. “Fine.”

In the end, it wasn’t her machinations that finally saw Derek and Stiles making the jump into an official relationship. Well, not anything that she did on purpose.

Stiles still hadn’t made up with Scott, because Scott still hadn’t apologized for trying to tell Stiles who to be friends with. Erica, Isaac, and Boyd actually liked Stiles and didn’t mind him joining their group. Erica and Stiles geeked out over comics. Stiles would draw adorable chibi!Isaac sketches that made the other boy blush. Boyd loved watching Stiles pull Derek into debates about ridiculous topics. Derek found it comforting that all of his friends connected with Stiles so easily. They started hanging out in a group more often and Stiles got invited to their usual traditions. Like movie night.

They had fun gorging on junk food and arguing about plot points. And when the others had fallen asleep, Stiles and Derek went to the back porch to look at the stars.

“I always wonder if they’d be as beautiful up close. Like do we just think they’re pretty because we can never reach them?” Stiles asked absently.

“Maybe. But some things are just beautiful, and being close enough to touch only leaves you more in awe,” Derek said.

Stiles turned his head to make a sarcastic comment. His breath caught in his throat when he already found Derek staring directly at him.

In that moment, Stiles didn’t have any doubts about what Derek was feeling. He knew straight to the marrow of his bones that Derek felt the same way about him. That if he moved forward he would be met halfway. And it happened just as he thought it would.

They met in the middle for a soft, sweet kiss that didn’t need any verbal clarification.

-

“So you guys finally got your shit figured out, huh?” Alec said.

“Seriously? You only have a shift like once a week. How did you even know Stiles and I were into each other?” Derek huffed.

Alec gave him a flat look. “I have eyes, and I’m smarter than a rock.”

Lucy, Jen, and Chris burst into laughter. Stiles bit back his own laughter because he knew his boyfriend wouldn’t appreciate it, but couldn’t help the goofy grin that spread across his face as he looked at his boyfriend. Even with the grumpy frown he was currently sporting, Derek was the most amazing person he’d ever met and he couldn’t believe he could actually claim such a connection with him.

His boyfriend.

“Ugh. You two are probably going to be even more pathetically in love than you were in the first place,” Alec groaned.

Stiles managed to drag his eyes away from his boyfriend’s face to see all of Derek’s coworkers staring at him. Despite Alec’s tone, he seemed genuinely happy for Derek and kind of amused at catching more of Stiles’ lovesick glances. Stiles refused to acknowledge that he could feel his cheeks turning red and turned to see Derek staring back at him, wearing his own goofy grin.

“Your drinks, lovebirds,” Alec said.

They startled and turned to the counter to see their complete drinks. Stiles felt a little like an ass, because that meant they had just been standing there staring at each other for a couple minutes at least. But he also felt a little bit giddy because he was half of an obnoxiously in love couple and it felt amazing.

Despite the fact that they had been friends before they got together, Stiles had been expecting a little bit of an awkward phase. But it didn’t seem like that was going to happen. They got along just as well as they ever did. Stiles had surprisingly little trouble going along with his impulses to touch Derek all of the time instead of repressing them, and Derek seemed to appreciate it. A lot, actually.

It was like now that they were allowed to touch each other that way, they couldn’t stop themselves. Their makeouts were starting to veer into territory that it wouldn’t be comfortable for them to pursue in either one of their cars. Before trying to make plans for them to go further, Stiles wanted to make sure Derek was comfortable with it. He’d already figured out that subtlety went directly over Derek’s head, so he decided to go with the direct approach.

“Do you want to have sex?”

Derek blinked at him. “I don’t have any condoms.” A pause. “Also, we’re in public.”

Stiles bit down hard on his bottom lip to keep from laughing. “The fact that us being in public was a secondary and barely remembered deterrent is certainly being noted, Der-bear. I didn’t mean right now at this moment, but I’m guessing that’s a general yes?”

The conversation finally registered fully and Derek’s ears turned red. “Yes,” he said shyly.

And of course when they decided that they both wanted to have sex was when they were constantly cockblocked. Either their schedules didn’t match up or one of them was called home for some reason or one of them realized they’d forgotten about an assignment that was due first period the very next day or they didn’t have the necessary items with them.

After yet another furious makeout session was interrupted, Stiles sighed. He looked at his boyfriend. Derek’s pupils were dilated, lips red, hair a mess from Stiles’ fingers. Stiles knew he hardly looked better as he breathed deeply, trying to calm his raging hormones and the erection pressing against his zipper. He dropped his head on Derek’s shoulder and said, “We’re never going to have sex.”

Fortunately for their aching blue balls, he was wrong about that.

The day finally came when the Sheriff had a night shift and Derek didn’t have to work and neither of them had pressing assignments due and they had the condoms and lube on hand.

They had waited so long that Stiles expected it to be frantic, an explosion of passion they could no longer contain. It started that way, with sloppy kisses and hurried hands and aggressive stripping of clothes. Somehow it changed, slowed. Maybe when Stiles bit hard at Derek’s neck and he made a sound so desperate, Stiles automatically made every attempt to soothe him. Maybe when Derek flipped them so he could strip off Stiles’ boxers and found himself looking down into the amber eyes he adored, unable to help himself from leaning down for a gentle kiss to a corner of one of those beautiful orbs.

Somehow, they both remembered they were with the boy they loved.

Stiles stroked his hands along Derek’s skin. Derek licked a path up Stiles’ neck. Stiles peppered kisses across Derek’s collar bone. Derek twined their fingers together. They anchored each other as they drifted in the vast galaxy of their mutual love.

Curled together, skin to skin, they breathed deeply of each other’s presence.

“I’m so glad we found each other,” Stiles whispered. “Derek, I… I love you so much.”

Derek pressed a kiss against Stiles’ heartbeat. “I love you, too. I wish I had met you earlier.”

“Hey,” Stiles said, tilting his face up. “What matters is that we’re together now. That you know you’ll always have me, and I’ll always try my best for you. I swear, Derek, I’ll never purposely hurt you.”

Derek kissed him. “I promise I won’t leave you,” he murmured against Stiles’ mouth.

Stiles pulled away. “Don’t promise me that.”

“Stiles…”

“No, it’s not… Anything could happen, Derek. Even if you don’t mean for it to. And I don’t want you trapped by a promise like that.”

Derek sighed. He laid his head back in the slope of Stiles’ shoulder, enjoying the way his boyfriend trailed his fingers up and down his spine. There was no use arguing that he wouldn’t be trapped by promising something like that.

Instead, he whispered, “I promise I’ll put you first. As long as I don’t believe it’s to my detriment, I’ll put you first.”

“As long as _you_ don’t believe it’s detrimental, huh?” Stiles sighed.

Derek didn’t reply. That was as far as he was willing to compromise.

“We’ll put each other first,” Stiles murmured sleepily.

“Always,” Derek whispered as his eyes fell shut.

Always.

**Author's Note:**

> I might have dropped the ball a bit on the miscommunication and jealousy, but I tried to get everything you wanted in there. Also, sorry the smut wasn't super explicit lol. I really enjoyed working on this though! It evolved from something I've had in my unfinished folder for literal years, so thanks for giving me the motivation to finish it.


End file.
